One Choice
by Lillianpeace
Summary: One choice, I was always told would define your beliefs, loyalties even your friends. I was never told it would lead to love, lies and betrayal. My name is Ava Eaton, some call me five, my best friend is Tris Prior we are Divergent and we found out one choice can transform you. Come with us, you might be Divergent too, they might be looking for you...
1. One Choice1

**Hello, when I get bored new story ideas pop into my head and I have to post them. I will still be doing Collision and Snakes Chamber, just going to have to update three stories instead of two. I really would like reviews on this story. I own nothing about Divergent other than the plot twist and such, thank you for reading and please review. It will be from Ava's point of view unless said otherwise. -Lillianpeace**

'Today is the day' keeps being repeated in my mind, it's a reminder of the choices I have to make, the choices that could ultimately ruin my life or bring everything together for me. Mother Johanna assures me I will find my path. Today is the day of the aptitude test, it will show me which of the five fractions I belong in and tomorrow, at the Choosing Ceremony, I will decide on a fraction; I will decide the rest of my life; I will decide to stay with mother Johanna or abandon her.

Even though I know Mother Johanna wasn't my real mother I couldn't imagine a better one. To raise a child not of your blood from birth, the love and care she has provided me here in Amity, my faction, my home, astounds me. I don't know if I could ever muster up the courage to do that. I looked out seeing the maze of large trees, the fruit was ready for tomorrow's harvest; all the crops were. At times I felt at peace here but other times I could barely stand how serene everyone was, I wanted to be able to be that calm but I'm not good enough, more often than not I've had to take the peace serum for my ill temperament.

"My child," I turn with a smile seeing Johanna, the scar makes her more beautiful, gives her face more character. "You look nervous, you shouldn't be. Go in peace and love, you will always have a home in Amity." Her eyes gazed into mine.

"Mother, would you still love me if I wasn't in Amity?" I could barely look at her, I was terrified. "Oh child, I don't believe in this faction before blood, love is love my child, and you are my child," it was easy to be peaceful, to be everything amity was about, when Johanna was around.

"Go, Haily will be waiting it is time for school with the other children. Go with peace and Love Ava," I flashed a bright smile.

I wondered who my real parents were, if I would ever meet them or if they were even still alive. All I had from them was my looks. I had a mess of curly and wavy brown hair, slightly tanned skin from working in the fields, muted stern/angular features, and my big eyes were a vivid blue. I wasn't very tall, Johanna had measured me every year on my birthday; I stood at 5'0' with a slender build. I gave Johana a hug before running down the wood paneled halls to join the other girls.

"Come on Ava, again you keep us waiting," Kyle smiled as he took my hand helping me onto the truck. We lived further away from the other factions, we were closer to the fence that separated us from the desolate world that was beyond it. The Dauntless guarded the fence, I always wanted to know what was beyond it and why it needed to be guarded. The Dauntless were brave and fearless, most were tattooed and pierced and all wore black clothes. Their primary purpose is to guard the fence that surrounds our city and keep the factionless from hurting anyone.

It wasn't too long before we arrived at the school. It is made of glass and steel, in front is a large metal sculpture that the Dauntless climb after school, daring each other to go higher and higher. I remember with a clench in my stomach our classes are cut in half today so we will attend all before the aptitude tests, which take place after lunch. I already feel my heart exploding in my chest, I was only sixteen, too young for a heart attack.

I am just too curious about so many things, I dared to do things that other Amity wouldn't. Mother Johanna always said my eyes wonder seeing the faces of the other sixteen year olds Candor's in their black and white, Erudite in blue, Amity in our red and yellow, Abnegation in their dull grey, Dauntless in their black. I don't see the Dauntless yet, but all their faces look as if they are devouring as much as they can get on this last day. It is very likely that we will not walk these halls again after the Choosing Ceremony, once we choose our new fractions will be responsible for finishing our education.

"Are you happy?" Haily poked me, she was her normal bubbly self. I hated that my natural reaction was to ball up my tiny fists "I am Haily, thank you. Go in peace and love," I smiled before walking off, a little jump in my step. The halls were filling up, I stopped when I saw a rude Erudite boy knock into a girl around my age "Out of my way, Stiff," my eye twitched, something about this injustice, it isn't logical to hurt another and proceed to goat them with glee.

The girl looks back as my foot snakes its way out as the boy watches the Abnegation's girl's embarrassment with glee, I have heard about Erudite feud with the selfless Abnegation. He doesn't notice until he was already falling, his glasses breaking on the floor, his blue sweater now had a tiny tear, and his books cascaded on the floor. "Oh no, how silly of me not to be watching," I giggled, he just stood up brushing off his clothes, his friends helped him gather his books.

"It was my fault as well, I am very sorry," he wasn't rude to me at all, I just glided away toward the girl who was watching something out of a window, something I myself have done many times before. For some reason I didn't think she'd be returning to Abnegation after the ceremony.

I watched as I heard the train whistle blaring, the sound resonating in my chest. The light fixed to the front of the train clicks on and off as the train hurtles past the school, squealing on iron rails. When the last few cars pass a mass exodus of young Dauntless, both female and male, in dark form fitting clothes hurl themselves from the moving cars, some dropping and rolling, others stumbling a few steps before regaining their balance. They should offend me because I was raised with the peace loving Amity, most stayed away from them and their crazy ways. I wonder what courage, which virtue they most value has to do with a metal ring through your nostril, I wanted to know and I wanted to know how it was done. Instead of fearing them or thinking they were crazy my eyes clung to them, curiosity peaking whenever I got a good look at them. They were walking pieces of art that had a death wish.

"I watch them too," the girl turns, her blonde hair in a knot, her dull grey clothes too baggy, her nose a little big but to me she is very pretty.

"But you're Amity?" she looks as if she regrets her words the moment she speaks them, I smile "I am Amity, as you're Abnegation. But I am naturally very curious," with that I hurried to class and the girl to her's. The palms of my hands wet my stomach was churning, the rest of the day my red strap dress felt like nothing like it was burning up in here as lunch came.

Amity sat in a circle playing a game but my head was jumbled, jumping into too many directions at once so I stood seeing the girl from this morning sitting and looking nervous along with a boy. I walked over to them, taking a seat next to her and gaining a few looks. "Hello," I smiled.

"Hello, I am Caleb Prior, this is my sister Beatrice Prior," he smiled giving me a simple nod as their faction does, I forgot they aren't ones for touching, how stupid of me.

"I am Ava, Caleb we have a few classes together. Beatrice how are you?" I asked her with a bright smile.

"No, how are you," she said I saw her eyes dart to her brother, he gave her a smile "Oh, I am well thank you,"

I lean in close "I can see you're nervous, I am too. I'm scared too," Beatrice looked at me with relief "Glad it isn't only me," barley above a whisper when another group of names is called and my heart drops.

"Ava," was all that was said, it was a member of Amity, there is a row of ten rooms in the school, and they are separated not by glass but by mirrors. I watch myself pale and horrified walking toward one of the doors, I walk into room 6 where a Dauntless women waits for me.

She is not as severe-looking as the young Dauntless I have seen. She has small, dark, angular eyes and wears a black blazer-like man's suit and jeans. It is only when she turned to close the door that I could see a tattoo on the back of her neck, a black-and-white hawk with a red eye. I was trying to judge if it would be wise to ask if it meant something, things like that usually meant something.

It was an odd thing, mirrors covering the inner walls of the room. I can see my refection from all angles, scabs on my knees from falling two days ago, my knobby knees. The ceiling glows white with light, in the center of the room is a reclined chair like a one a dentist would use, with a machine next to it. This wasn't a place where peace, love, or any kind of harmony happened.

The women was looking at me "Don't worry, it doesn't hurt," but I wasn't worried about pain but I say nothing, instead I study her noticing her hair is black and nicely streaked with gray that seems to sparkle when it hits the light at the right time.

"Would you like to sit and get comfortable?" she asks "My name is Tori," but she eyes me and my clothes, the way she is looking at me she is judging me on my solemnness. So I sit, laying my head in the headrest trying to calm myself, the light didn't hurt my eyes since I was used to being in the bright sun all day. I could hear Tori making herself busy with the large machine on my right, I try to focus on her and not the wires she carries in her hands.

"Why the Hawk?" I ask in what I think is a calm voice but its sounds more loud "Never met such a calm Amity, you guys are so...well we just don't mix," she smiled.

"Understandable," so much about me was a mistake, a betrayal of Amity values.

Humming a little, she presses another electrode to my forehead and explains, "In some parts of the ancient world, the Hawk symbolized the sun on me, I wouldn't be afraid of the dark," I gasped, she looked so strong.

"You're afraid of the dark?" she raised her brow "Curious as well, I was afraid of the dark," she corrected me as I gave a firm nod, overcoming your fear is a sign of bravery. She presses the first one to her own forehead, and attaches a wire to it. She shrugs "Now it reminds me of the fear I have overcome,"

"Very brave of you, it takes strength to overcome fear," I said as she came to stand behind me she gave me an odd look, I squeeze the armrest so hard my knuckles are pure white. She tugs on the wires pulling them towards her before attaching them to me, to her, and to the machine behind her. Tori passes me a vial of clear liquid.

"Drink this," she tells me but half of me doesn't trust whatever it is "What is it? What will it do?" I question her eyeing the vial in my hands.

"Can't tell you that. Just trust me,"

I press the air from my lungs and drink the contents of the vial shortly after my eyes flutter shut. When they open again I find myself in a plain white room with glass panels, outside I see Amity people passing by as if they don't see this strange new building. I turn around to see a small table with two baskets, one holds a rather long knife while the other holds a chunk of cheese.

"You must choose one." A woman said, I couldn't see her.

"Why do I need to choose?"

"Choose!" she screamed. I shook my head not looking away from the baskets, I didn't want either of them. It didn't feel right. "Fine, have it your way." The baskets disappeared.

I turned again when I heard the doors open but I swear there were no doors before, I turn to see a large dog snarling. His body language conveyed anger, maybe fear? I thought back to my lessons, easily remembering that animals could smell fear. I watched him as he came closer, his lips curled back to show his off white but very sharp teeth. I understood why the cheese and knife would help me but for some reason it still didn't feel right.

I took a deep breath, calming myself before slowly lowering myself to my knees. I knew to not look him in the eyes, he valued his alpha status and if I challenged that, challenged his safety I doubt I'd last very long. I bowed my head after giving him a quick look. I heard his paws pound the ground, vibrating every bone in my body. Once again I calmed my breathing and kept myself bowed, next thing I knew the dog had tackled me and was licking my face. Giggles escaped my lips, "Oh my, you're so sweet. Such a good boy!" I pet him before cautiously standing up, I didn't want to scare him.

He jumps up, his paws on my shoulders, "Such a good boy" he sniffs me before nuzzling me.

Suddenly a little boy appears, he smiles and toddles forward "Puppy!" the dog turned, and his muscles tense as he pounced. With speed I didn't know I had I tackled the dog and threw him to the side, quickly I moved off of him and stood between him and the little boy who now clung to my leg.

"No!" my voice was stern, "Back, now!" the dog whined and laid on the floor. I stepped forward with the little boy, "Don't be scared, bow to him." He did as told, the dog licked his face in turn. With a deep sigh and a blink I was on a bus, gripping a pole. I looked around until I met the eyes of a man.

This man looked angry, his body tense, his burned hands gripping a newspaper with such force I was surprised it didn't rip. "You, do you know this guy?" he asks anger clear as day in his tone. I scanned the headline, it read "Brutal Murderer Finally Apprehended!" I've seen this word but only in books, it has been so long since someone was murdered, I then looked to the picture under the headline; it was an older man with a white beard. A pang in my gut told me I knew him but it also told me not to tell this man, this intense feeling of dread passed over me. Something bad would happen to me, to someone, if I told this man anything. But maybe nothing would happen, I guess I would have to see what happens and hope I don't die.

"Yes, I have seen this man" my heart was thumping wildly, there was no point in lying, it would cause more harm than good.

"You have saved me," was all he said, a smile appearing on his face.

I woke with a start, my palms were unusually sweaty. I moved off the chair after Tori removed the wires from my head. I stood and wiped off my sweaty hands on my dress. When I looked up I saw that Tori was looking at me with a mixed look of awe and sadness, she pinches her lips together but then she moves fast the electrodes come off our heads. I sit here waiting, waiting for her to say something anything about the test that it is over, or that I did well, but how could you do poorly on a test you can't prepare for?

I sit forward my hands wet with sweat, I feel as if I have done something wrong, she is too silent they way she is moving around the room, the look on her face. I wish she would just come out with it, tell me; tell me already Tori.

"That," she says "was perplexing. Excuse me Ava, I will be back in a few moments," she was gone out the door leaving me alone to my jumbled thoughts. Perplexing?

What if my result was nothing, I had gotten no faction. Was that even possible? Mother said I would always have a home in Amity, without a faction I would have to live on the streets with the factionless. Without my community, in poverty, but no mother said I would always have a home in Amity. I would find a way to get back there and live among them without anyone finding out. I wanted to run from the room, I wanted to run until my legs gave out or until I was back in mothers' arms. I didn't like this, I didn't like how long she was taking or that my result was perplexing.

Once I was told we can't survive alone, but even if we could, we wouldn't want to. Without a faction we have no purpose and no reason to live. I push the thoughts away because all they do is hurt me and make my heart thump wildly, I take a deep breath and calm myself.

I could hear the small creak of the door as it opens, and Tori walks in I stand ready, ready to hear what she has to say "Just tell me," I say, my curly hair wet with sweat, I push it from my face.

"Sorry to worry you," Tori says. She stands two feet away with her hands in her pockets. Her face is now pale like mine and her body is tense.

"Ava, your results were inconclusive," she says. "Typically, each stage of the simulation eliminates one or more but in your case, none have been ruled out," I stepped back staring at her, this is impossible.

"None?" my throat is so dry I feel as if I am swallowing my tongue, making it difficult to talk.

"Normally the simulation progresses in a linear fashion, isolating one faction by ruling out the rest. The choices you made didn't even rule out a single one, even with the insistence with dishonesty you chose honesty." She half smiles.

I feel close to getting ill on the tile floor.

"Which gives us a problem,"

My mouth fell open.

"On one hand, your intelligent response with the dog indicates strong alignment with Erudite. But not running from the dog and standing up to it shows Dauntless, being selfless enough to through yourself at the dog but not kill it is both Amity and Abnegation. And not lying to the man was Candor. I have no idea what to make of your indecision in stage one, but,"

"Hold on Tori," I interrupted her. "So you have no idea what my aptitude is?"

"Yes and no. My conclusion," she explains "Is that you show equal aptitude for Erudite, Abnegation, Candor, Amity and Dauntless. People who get this kind of result are…." I watch but she looks over her shoulder as if we are being watched, as if someone might appear behind her at any moment, maybe they might. "…are called…Divergent," the last word was barely said above a whisper, I had to strain to hear her, her tense, worried look returned. She walks around the side of the chair getting close to me, I just stand there looking at her.

"Ava," she says "Under no circumstances should you share that information with anyone. This is very important," by the look on her face I believe her.

"Divergence is extremely dangerous, you understand?" I did "Yes because I am very scary looking," she gave a small laugh.

"But yes, I understand,"

"I suggest you go home. You have a lot of thinking to do, and waiting with the others may not benefit you," I gave her a look.

"I can't we all ride together, we live very far,"

"Fine," her face turned soft.

I walked out thinking.

Abnegation

Amity

Candor

Dauntless

Erudite

Divergent…

Later that night finds me sitting at the long wooden table, we do not talk of the test at this table, but you could tell by how silent it is, it is resting on their minds. I firmly believe none will leave Amity, we have the least amount ever to leave.

I don't touch the bread, I never do because I have seen them make it. I know the Peace serum is placed in it keeping us happy. But another thing weighted on my mind, Beatrice Prior walked from the school not very long after me, leaving the same room I did, number 6.

"I will ask for all our younglings to stand," I stood from my spot stepping away from the bench "Tomorrow is a very special day for you, the Choosing Ceremony. Go with peace and love," it was our dismissal to bed to rest for our day tomorrow.

"Ava," it was mother Johanna a smile always on her face her shawl draped around her "Yes mother?" I questioned "A word of advice my child, choose for yourself," then she walked off talking to others all smiling, I frowned walking to my room to be alone.

.


	2. One Choice 2

**Hello, I own nothing about Divergent but I do own Ava, so no money is being made from this story. Thank you for reading and please review! It will always be from Ava's point of view.**

I stand with Amity, wearing a bright yellow strap dress with sandals on. We leave our possessions at Amity in case we choose never to return, Johanna promised to keep my room the exact way it is even if I didn't return. Around my neck is a silver necklace given to me by Johanna with the Amity symbol, I wouldn't ever give this up.

"Time to go," Mr. Daniels gives us all a big smile as he helps us each on, another truck is going since more Amity will be traveling into the city for the Choosing Ceremony. The drive there is long but knowing Johanna isn't coming is bitter sweet, I haven't even made my choice, what if I don't make it before we get there and I get kicked out and become factionless?

The Hub is packed with every fraction everyone chatting, in small groups even us Amity.

Some Amity take the Elevator but some will walk the long staircase, it looks like a sea of grey but we are adding color following their selfless lead. But my legs become sore, and I struggle to breathe, and I am once again distracted by myself. We have to climb twenty flights of stairs to get to the Choosing Ceremony.

I notice Beatrice being ushered in by the crowed but I see what I assume is her father by the way she was watching him "Thank you," I gave him a nod, I never heard another give thanks for his generosity of holding the door for them.

"You're welcome," his smile was easy.

The room is arranged in concentric circles. On the edges stand the sixteen-year-olds of every faction. We are not called members yet; our decisions today will make us initiates, and we will become members is we complete initiation.

We arrange ourselves in alphabetical order, according to the last names we may leave behind today. I stand in between Jacob Edger and Kia Furl from Erudite, in her Blue with Black glasses, did they all wear glasses?

Rows of chairs for our families make up the next circle. They are arranged in five sections, according to the faction. Not everyone comes to the Choosing Ceremony but enough to make the crowd look huge. The responsibility to conduct the ceremony rotates from faction to faction each year, and this year it is Abnegation's turn. So their represented will read the names in reverse alphabetical order, I will be waiting some time.

In the last circle are five metal bowls so large if I curled up, I could fit into them. Each one contains a substance the represents each faction: Gray stones for Abnegation, water for Erudite, earth for Amity, lit coals for Dauntless, and glass for Candor.

When my name is called I will walk up take the knife offered to me, and let my blood spill into the bowl.

Marcus, that is his name, he is a political leader like all Abnegation. He stands at the podium between the Erudite and the Dauntless and clears his throat, I notice Johanna sitting with Amity a smile gracing her face while she looks at me.

"Welcome," he says, she turns her eyes to him "Welcome to the Choosing Ceremony. Welcome to the day we honor the democratic philosophy of our ancestors, which tells us that every man has the right to choose his own way in this world,"

But really, it's only one of five pre designed ways, well six is what occurs to me as I listen to Marcus.

"Our dependents are now sixteen. They stand on the precipice of adulthood, and it's now up to them to decide what kind of people they will be," Marcus' voice is solemn giving equal weight to each word. "Decades ago our ancestors realized that it is not political ideology, religious beliefs, race, or nationalism that is to blame for a warring world. Rather, they determined that it was the fault of human personally- of humankind's inclination toward evil, in whatever form that is. They divided believed responsible for the world disarray."

I look to the bowls in the center of the room, then to the factions, then back to the bowls as if they held the answers for me.

"Those who blamed aggression formed Amity," I smiled seeing other Amity doing the same as I.

"Those who blamed ignorance became Erudite," I wasn't sure about Erudite, the boy in the halls, the way they acted towards all Abnegation as of the resent weeks.

"Those who blamed duplicity created Candor," you had to lie every once in a while, I rather not know what everyone was thinking.

"Those who blamed selfishness made Abnegation," I could do Abnegation.

"And those who blamed Cowardice were the Dauntless," but am I selfless enough.

"Working together these five factions have lived together in peace for many years, each contributing to a different sector of society. Abnegation has fulfilled our need for the selfless leaders in government; Candor has provided us with trustworthy and sound leaders in law; Erudite has supplied us with intelligent teachers and researchers; Amity has given understanding counselors and caretakers; Dauntless provides us with protection from threats both within and without. But the reach of each faction is not limited to these areas. We give one another far more than can be adequately summarized, in our factions, we find meaning, we find purpose, and we find life,"

I remember reading it "Faction before blood," I could ever believe that is true. I honestly want him to stop talking, it tested my patience and got on my nerves, I feel like an awful person.

Marcus adds "Apart from them, we would not survive," silence follows his words like our worst fear.

"Therefore this day marks a happy occasion-the day on which we receive our new initiates, who will work with us towards a better society and a better world," a round of loud thunderous applause roars through the room.

The names start getting called making my heart pick up, beating faster and faster, every Amity being called spilled their blood on the earth being welcomed back with hugs from their family.

"Caleb Prior," the boy from school, he gave me an uneasy feeling. I watch him as he walks up, he looks over his shoulder at Beatrice. He takes the knife, cutting the palm of his hand biting his lower lip, but I wasn't too shocked seeing his blood spilling into the water tinting it red, but Beatrice paled.

The room was getting loud "Excuse me," Marcus says but the crowed doesn't hear him "Quiet please!" he shouts.

The room goes silent except for the ringing in my ears.

"Beatrice Prior," is called next, she looked scared as she shuffles to the bowls, and she looks to her bother, who nods at her. She takes the knife slicing her palm looking torn between the grey stones and the lit coals, seconds later you could hear the sizzle of her blood on the Dauntless stones.

A loud roar comes from Dauntless. Her parents look defeated, losing both children, I look to Johanna who just smiles mouthing "Love is love,"

More name are called and I wait.

"Ava…Eaton" he stuttered my last name looking at Johanna as I walked forward, walking up the few steps standing in front of the bowls and looking up at Marcus, but he is staring at me with some kind of emotions and murmurs can be heard.

But he hands me the knife "Thank you," I smile "You're welcome Ava," I know what to do, it stings as I bring the cold steel down on my palm before laying the knife back down, seeing Marcus take it to be cleaned.

Without thought I spilled my blood over the lit coals, I was brave, I was Dauntless.

Another loud roar went up through the crowed, I turned to walk to were the Dauntless are seeing Johanna smiling through tears, my heart broke right there "Go in peace, go in love child," she said as I passed.

"Go in peace, go in love mother," I said back before my new faction clapped me on the back all smiling "First Amity," I heard from a tall boy "Won't make it," from another as I gave him a look.

"Hello Beatrice," I said standing next to her "Hello Ava," she smiled back looking relived she knew someone. "Don't worry about your parents, they will come around. You'll see them on visiting day," I touched her shoulder, she looked shocked but her body untensed. "I hope so." She gave another look, I saw her mother smile at her.

The crowed of Dauntless lead us to the stairs instead of the elevators, then the running starts, I hear whoops and shouts and laughter all around us, and dozens of thundering feet moving in different rhythms. I take Beatrice's hand as boys start moving faster, one shouts "What the hell is going on?" she just shakes her head and keeps running as do I, out of breath we reach the first floor, and the Dauntless burst though the exit.

Outside the air is crisp and it is getting cold, the sun is setting making the clouds seem orange, it reflects off the black glass of the Hub.

The Dauntless sprawl across the street, blocking the path of the bus, we catch up pretty easy with them, a few others behind us. We followed the Dauntless down the street and around the corner hearing the familiar sound: the train horn, we drop hands.

"Oh no," I say out loud knowing what is about to happen they get off on way, they must get on the same way.

"Are we supposed to hop on that thing?" an Erudite boy asked, Beatrice answers "Yes," she is trying to catch her breath.

The crowed spreads out in a thin long line. The train glides towards us on steel rails, its lights flashing, its horn blaring. The door of each car is open, waiting for the Dauntless to pile in, and they do, group by group until only the initiates are left. Even the Dauntless born initiates are used to it, now it's just faction transfers that are left.

"Start running," I say as I run, I am used to running in Amity. I grasp the handle swinging myself in with ease looking out a few seconds later a Candor girl helps Beatrice in.

"Thank you," I help her to her feet, she thanks the Candor girl but we watch as an Erudite boy with red hair, pumps his arms running as best he can, but fails falling to his knees. He is now factionless.

"You all right?" The Candor girl asked Beatrice and me, we nod at the same time "I'm Christina," she smiled offering each of us her hand.

I smiled shaking her hand, use to the jester "Ava," then she spoke "Beatrice" she looked nervous but then I remembered they greeted by a simple nod of the head, she wasn't use to this.

"Do you know where we're going?" Christina has to shout over the wind, she is tall, with dark brown skin like Johnna, and short hair, pretty. Wind blows harder through the open doors, the train is picking up speed, I sit and soon Beatrice and Christina sit too. Our legs ache but one day this would be second nature.

"A fast train means wind, wind means falling out, get down," I smiled they both smiled too. "I guess we're going to dauntless headquarters," Beatrice says, it's logical that's where we would be headed to. "But I don't know where it is," she finished.

"Does anyone?" Christina was grinning "It's like they popped out of a hole in the ground or something,"

We watch other transfers start falling atop of each other, we laugh a little as long as none fall out. I watch, it's all there is to do, Beatrice looks worried the whole ride, and Christina looks thrilled.

I wonder if I am missed in Amity, if mother misses me, if my room is now being used by another. Where have my things been taken? Have I hurt Mother Johanna after all her love, kindness, and trust, what have I done?

"They're jumping off!"

"Of course they are," I grumble making Christina laugh "I like you Amity," we look out the car, the boy who yelled is right. The Dauntless in the cars ahead of us are jumping out as the train passes a rooftop. The tracks are seven stories up.

This is insane, the very idea of jumping off a fast moving train with a large gap to a rooftop both excites me and makes me ill. I look to my right seeing Christina in the same shape, to my left seeing Beatrice the very same. We stumble back to the opposite side of the car where the other faction transfers stand in a line.

"We have to jump off too, then," another Candor girl says. She has a large nose and crooked teeth.

"Great," a Candor boy replies "Because that makes perfect sense, Molly. Leap off a train onto a roof,"

"This is kind of what we signed up for Peter," the girl pointed out, their bickering is annoying at best.

Christina offers her hand, I was about to refuse when she says "I just…can't do it unless someone drags me."

I give a look to Beatrice "Can't survive alone," she tilts her head and takes my hand, three girls holding hands.

"You girls going to start chanting," the boy Peter smiles.

We ignore him as it passes the roof we count "one…two… three..!"

On three we launch off the train car. A weightless moment and then my knees slam into solid ground, pain flares like when I fall from the trees in the maze. We go sprawling on the rooftop. Gravel was in my hair and in my bra, it was uncomfortable. We release hands, I giggle and Christina laughs which vaguely sounds like a duck, but Beatrice looks shocked she did it.

"That was fun," she says but I watch Beatrice brush gravel from her cheek "You okay?" I ask "Yeah," she smiled.

We hear a wail of pain, not physical but emotional our heads turn. A Dauntless girl stands at the edge of the roof, staring at the ground below, screaming. Behind her a Dauntless by holds her at the waist to keep her from falling off, or jumping.

"Rita," he says "Rita, calm down. Rita-"

We look over the edge, a Dauntless born girl was on the floor below us. Her arms and legs are at odd angles, her hair in a halo around her head. Even the Dauntless aren't safe.

Rita sinks to her knees, sobbing, we turn away walking together, I at least had Christina and Beatrice. This is how things work here, I tell myself this, and I think everyone tells themselves this.

"Ooh. Scandalous! A stiffs showing some skin," I turn my head, its Peter, it's going to be a long initiation with him. I swept my long curly hair over my shoulder as Christina glared at the boy.

"You're not a Stiff, not then and not now," I whisper.

"Listen up! My name is Eric, I am one of the leaders of your new faction!" shouts a man with long, dark hair and countless piercings. He has cold eyes that made him all the more menacing, scabbed-over knuckles, and a wicked smile. You could see countless tattoo's covering what little skin Eric was showing, I couldn't take my eyes off him and I didn't want to.

He stands on the ledge like it's a side walk, like someone didn't just fall to her death at such a tender age. "Several stories below us is the member's entrance to our compound. If you can't muster the will to jump off, you don't belong here. Our initiates have the privilege of going first," flashing a wicked smile.

"You want us to jump off a ledge?" asked an Erudite girl. She is tall with mousy brown hair and nice big lips "Yes," he answers, this amuses him.

"Is there water at the bottom or something?"

"Who knows?" he smiled again playing with a dagger and now looking bored.

The crowed splits in half, making a path for us, I will go first, I doubt they want us to die so fast. No on looks eager to go first, people look to brush gravel from clothes. I glance at Peter. He is picking at one of his cuticles. Trying to act casual.

But I watch Beatrice step forward "A stiff," he smiles stepping aside. Watching her grey clothes billow in the wind, her knees bending before she jumped then she was gone.

Eric turned back to the crowed his eyes land on mine, a flicker of a smile before it vanished "Next," but nothing.

"Oh I will go next, it looked like such fun," I smiled walking forward with Christina behind me when Peter opens his mouth once again "Damn, she looks good. I'd have sex with that, even if I have to force my way in. Just makes it more fun," he wasn't trying to be heard but his voice carried, my eyes narrowed.

"You up now," Eric his tone was lethal as Peter turned pale white walking to what might be his death, Dauntless born muttered crude words as he passed "We don't speak to our females in that way," his voice was like ice.

"Jump now," he grabbed Peter by his white collar tossing him to the ledge, we watched as he barely was able to balance himself. "I was so looking forward to jumping next," I muttered.

"You're next shortcake," he smiled down at me "Go with peace and love Peter," I bumped into him, knocking him making Christina laugh. A very shrill feminine scream was heard all the way down then nothing.

"Not very Amity of you,"

"Maybe that's why I left," I answered back without hesitation going to the ledge he offered his hand "Going to toss me off?" I asked him, he might you never know.

"No," he said so I placed my small hand in his, it was warm I was glad all he did was help me on to the ledge, I wasted no time, I jumped feeling light and weightless for a brief time. I hit something hard, it gives way beneath me and cradles my body. The impact knocks the wind out of me, struggling to breathe again. My arms and legs sting.

A net. There is a net at the bottom of the hole. I look up at the building and laugh, half relieved and half hysterical. I start shaking, covering my face, I pushed a boy, then jumped off the same roof.

I see a few hands stretching out to me at the edge of the net, so I grab the first one I can reach and pull myself across. I roll off, I would have fallen onto the wood floor if he had not caught me.

"He" is the young man attached to the hand I grabbed. He has a spare upper lip and a full lower lip. His eyes are deep-set, his eyelashes touch the skin under his eyebrows and they are dark blue.

"Thank you," 

"Can't believe it," a girl with three silver rings through her right brow smiles "An Amity, here in Dauntless, and I hear you pushed Peter off the ledge,"

"There was a reason," I looked seeing Beatrice "Is this your friend Tris?" I raised my brow, Tris? She changed her name? Christina came next screaming like hell, before laughing like hell.

We stood together, heard Peter was sporting a broken finger now.

Now we are being lead down a narrow tunnel with Lauren and Four, the walls are made of stone, the ceiling slopes, so I feel like we are all descending into the heart of the earth. The tunnel is lit at long intervals, so in the dark space between each lamp, I fear I am lost until we bump shoulders.

We stop suddenly, maybe the taller ones understood before we were but Tris, her face hits the Erudite boy in front of us. "This is where we divide," Lauran says. "The Dauntless born initiates are with me. I assume you don't need a tour of the place," she smiles and beckons them forward. We watch as they dissolve into shadows, a little unfair, but not impossible to out rank them.

Now there are nine of us one from Abnegation, one from Amity, and the rest from Candor and Erudite, must be brave to tell the truth all the time. Four address us, Tris seems to watch him with a new emotion in her eyes but she probably doesn't realize it "Most of the time I work in the control room, but for the next few weeks, I am your instructor," he says, "My name is Four," Tris already told me, maybe this was her first crush.

"Four? Like the number?" I sighed, damn it Christina, your Candor is still showing "Yes," Four says "Is there a problem?"

"No,"

"Good. We're about to go into the Pit, which you will someday learn to love. It-"

Christina snickers "The Pit? Clever name." Christina you're going to get yourself killed I swear.

Four walks up to us, well more like Christina, Tris and I just happen to be next to her, unfortunately. He leans his face close to hers, his eyes narrow and for a second he just stares at her.

"What's your name?" he asked quietly.

"Christina," she squeaks out.

"Well, Christina, if I wanted to put up with Candor smart mouths. I would have joined their factions," he hisses "The first lesson you will learn from me is to keep your mouth shut. Got that?"

She nods.

Four moves and we follow.

"What a jerk," she mumbles "Guess he doesn't like to be laughed at," Tris replied and I agreed. Four pushes a set of double doors open, and we walk into the place called "The Pit"

"Pit" was the best word for it. It was an underground cavern so huge we couldn't see the other end of it from where we stood. Uneven rock walls rise several stories above my head. Built into the stone walls are places for food, clothing, supplies, and leisure activities. Narrow paths and steps carved from rocks connect them, there is nothing to stop you from falling to your death either.

A slant orange light stretches across one of the rock walls. Forming the roof of the Pit are panes of glass and, above them, a building that lets in sunlight. It must have looked like just another city building when we passed it on the train.

Blue lanterns dangle at random intervals above the stone paths, similar to the one in the Choosing Ceremony room. People are everywhere all dressed in black, all shouting and talking, Tris looks to be soaking up everything, her eyes watching everything like me. A group of Dauntless children run wild, this is chaos but there was something beautiful in it.

"If you follow me," says Four "I'll show you the Chasm," he waves us forward "Four seems tame by Dauntless standards," Tris whispers to Christina and I as we walk, we both look at him. But we do see a tattoo showing at the collar of his black shirt, he leads us to the right side of the pit, it is darker. I had a feeling I was going to lose every essence of my tan. We squint and stand on the edge of the iron barrier. Roaring –water, fast moving, it's crashing against the rocks below us. Below us the floor drops off at a very sharp angle, and several stories below us is a river. Gushing water strikes the wall spraying water upward, to the left the water is calmer but to the right, it's white and battling with rock.

"The Chasm reminds us that there is a fine line between bravery and idiocy!" Four shouts. 'A daredevil jump off this ledge will end your life. It has happened before and it will happen again. You've been warned,"

"This is incredible," Christina murmured as we all move from the railing "Incredible is the word," Tris agrees with her "It is rather spectacular looking," Four leads us across the Pit to a gaping hole in the wall. The room beyond is well-lit enough that I can see where we're going: a dining hall full of people and clattering silverware. When we walk in, the Dauntless inside stand. They applaud. They stamp their feet. They shout. The noise surrounds me and fills me. Christina smiles, seconds later so does Tris, soon so am I.

We look for empty seats. Christina finds a nearly empty table at the side of the room, so I slide on to the bench. I ended up next to Four with Tris on his other side, in the center of the table is platters of food. We don't eat meat in Amity.

"It's beef," he says "Put this on it," I watched as he gave Tris a small bowl filled with red paste.

"Oh Ava, you poor Amity. Eat meat," Christina said Four looked over at me "You know you two look alike," A guy with pale green eyes said while eating.

"You do," Christina smirked handing me this thing called a hamburger, Four handed me the red paste "If this food kills me, I am coming back to kill you," I declared, I stuck out in my bright yellow.

The door's to the cafeteria open, and a hush falls over the room. I look over Eric walks in, it's so quite you can hear him walking. You could see the coldness in his eyes as they sweep the room. His eyes stop scanning and he starts towards a table. He starts towards our table dropping right next to me, the only available seat.

He offers no greeting, so neither do we.

"Well aren't you going to introduce me?" he asks, nodding to us.

Four says "This is Tris, Christina, and Ava,"

"Ooo, a Stiff and even better an Amity," Eric said with glee smirking "That's not what you call Amity," Four mused out loud.

"Oh what does he call Amity?" I asked seeing Eric, his face twisted with hate "Banjo strumming softies," Four smiled never looking at Eric.

"Oh, well I don't even know how to play the banjo, I was a terrible Amity then," his smile pulls at the piercings in his lips, making the holes they occupy wider. I had to stop myself from trying to poke them, instead I wiped my hands on my dress.

He taps his fingers against the table my eyes follow the movement up then down. His knuckles are scabbed over, like they would split if he punched something too hard, and with the way he is looking at Four I am guessing his face is a target.

"What have you been doing lately, Four?" he asks, he is very good look. His body has hard muscle, I bet he could lift Apple barrels all day with ease.

Four lifts a shoulder. "Nothing, really," he says, Tris and Christina are watching the conversation with animation as well, as if a fight could break out at any moment.

Are they friends? My eyes flick between Eric and Four. Everything Eric did—sitting here, asking about Four—suggests that they are, but the way Four sits, tense as a pulled wire, suggests they are something else. Rivals, maybe, but how could that be if Eric is a leader and Four is not?

"Max tells me he keeps trying to meet with you, and you don't show up," Eric says. "He requested that I find out what's going on with you." Four looks at Eric for a few seconds before saying, "Tell him that I am satisfied with the position I currently hold."

"So he wants to give you a job."

The rings in Eric's eyebrow catch the light. Maybe Eric perceives Four as a potential threat to his position. But I don't think so, Four seems more in control of himself than Eric, Eric is cold and wild that means he can't be controlled as well as most would think.

"So it would seem," Four says.

"And you aren't interested."

"I haven't been interested for two years."

"Well," says Eric. "Let's hope he gets the point, then."

He claps Four on the shoulder, a little too hard, and gets up. He gives me one look he even looks as if he wants to say something but he walks away. I watched him walking away to another table, with two others, his eyes meet mine and he winks, I blush crimson.

"Stay away from him Ava," something about his tone, I couldn't place it, I have heard it used before by Danny when he talked to Sara. "Oh he is much too old, on the other hand he is messing with me most likely because I am Amity," I smiled but Christina and Four don't look to believe it.

"Are you two…friends?" we all hear Tris ask, I like that she is unable to contain her curiosity. She was like me, I was glad I wasn't alone.

"We were in the same initiate class," he says. "He transferred from Erudite."

All thoughts of being careful around Four leave me. "Were you a transfer too?" I ask, this time she smiled, she must have been thinking the same thing.

"I thought I would only have trouble with the Candor asking too many questions," he says coldly. "Now I've got Stiffs and Amity's too?"

"It must be because you're so approachable," Tris says flatly. "You know. Like a bed of nails." I add looking in his eyes.

He stares at her then me, and I don't look away. He isn't a dog, but the same rules apply. Looking away is submissive. Looking him in the eye is a challenge. It's my choice but he just move's his head between us, he has his work cut out for him.

But he just says, "Careful, Tris. Ava that also goes for you,"

Four's name, and I turn to Christina. She raises both eyebrows.

"What?" I ask.

"I'm developing a theory."

"And it is?" Tris gives Christina a look, I just pick at this Hamburger, it is good, but makes me feel guilty.

She picks up her hamburger, grins, and says, "That you have a death wish?"

After dinner, Four disappears without a word. Eric leads us down a series of hallways without telling us where we're going. I don't know why a Dauntless leader would be responsible for a group of initiates but maybe it is just for tonight. At the end of each hallway is a blue lamp, but between them it's dark and I have to be careful not to stumble over uneven ground. Christina walks beside me in silence with Tris. No one told us to be quiet, but none of us speak.

Eric stops in front of a wooden door and folds his arms. We gather around him, I stand close looking up, Tris and Christina with me. Tris looks disgusted, I could see her discomfort around Eric, my heart sunk he was cruel.

"For those of you who don't know, my name is Eric," he says. "I am one of five leaders of the Dauntless. We take the initiation process very seriously here, so I volunteered to oversee most of your training."

"That was very kind of you," I smiled up at him, I should have held my tongue "Kind is my middle name, shortcake," a wicked smile pulled at his mouth.

"Some ground rules," he says. "You have to be in the training room by eight o'clock every day. Training takes place every day from eight to six with a break for lunch. You are free to do whatever you like after six. You will also get some time off between each stage of initiation."

"You are only permitted to leave the compound when accompanied by a Dauntless," Eric adds. I smile, maybe I could go see Johanna somehow.

"Behind this door is the room where you will be sleeping for the next few weeks. You will notice that there are ten beds and only nine of you. We anticipated that a higher proportion of you would make it this far."

"But we started with twelve," protests Christina. I close my eyes and wait for the reprimand. She needs to learn to stay quiet.

"There is always at least one transfer who doesn't make it to the compound," says Eric, picking at his cuticles. He shrugs. "Anyway, in the first stage of initiation, we keep transfers and Dauntless-born initiates separate, but that doesn't mean you are evaluated separately. At the end of initiation, your rankings will be determined in comparison with the Dauntless-born initiates. They are better than you are already. So I expect—"

"Rankings?" asks the mousy-haired Erudite girl to my right. "Why are we ranked?"

Eric smiles, and in the blue light his smile looks wicked, like it was cut into his face with a knife, I hate it, I hate that I like it.

"Your ranking serves two purposes," he says. "The first is that it determines the order in which you will select a job after initiation. There are only a few desirable positions available."

My stomach tightens. I know by looking at his smile, like I knew the second I entered the aptitude test room, that something bad is about to happen.

"The second purpose," he says, "is that only the top ten initiates are made members."

Pain stabs my stomach. We all stand still as statues. And then Christina says, "What?"

"There are eleven Dauntless-born, and nine of you," Eric continues. "Four initiates will be cut at the end of stage one. The remainder will be cut after the final test."

That means that even if we make it through each stage of initiation, six initiates will not be members. I see Christina look at me from the corner of my eye, but I can't look back at her. My eyes are fixed on Eric and will not move.

My odds, as the only Amity transfer, are not good.

"What do we do if we're cut?" Peter asks "Go with peace and love," I smirk hearing two female giggles and a deeper one, but Eric covered it up with a deep cough before talking.

"You leave the Dauntless compound," says Eric indifferently, "and live factionless."

The mousy-haired girl clamps her hand over her mouth and stifles a sob. But instead of crying, like the Erudite girl, I feel colder. Harder.

I will be a member. I will.

"But that's…not fair!" the broad-shouldered Candor girl, Molly, says. Even though she sounds angry, she looks terrified. "If we had known—"

"Are you saying that if you had known this before the Choosing Ceremony, you wouldn't have chosen Dauntless?" Eric snaps. "Because if that's the case, you should get out now. If you are really one of us, it won't matter to you that you might fail. And if it does, you are a coward."

Eric pushes the door to the dormitory open.

"You chose us," he says. "Now we have to choose you."

"Undress on each bed, you will find your name with a set of clothes fitted to you. In the chest by the foot of your bunk training clothes among other things. Bring your old clothes, to the fire, I will watch you burn them, you're now Dauntless," he turned his back only walking to where we couldn't see him. I was near Christina and Tris, seeing black form fitting clothes set on the bed with black socks and boots, it all made my heart ache. Christina in all her Candorness strips her clothing off, dressing in pure black "Come on, before he comes back," Tris tries to remove her clothes without anyone seeing anything.

"Hold on Tris," she gives me a look, I take a breath taking the socks first slipping them on then the pants which are tight like a second skin, easy to move in though I remove my dress hearing a low whistle but only the back of my bra and body can be seen, as I pull the skin tight black tank top over myself, the black leather jacket was last I was Dauntless dressed. "You look so different," Christina smiled as I held the yellow fabric up, Christina got the picture and held the other side up so Tris could change.

"Thank you," she smiled, our old clothes in hand as Eric walked in his eyes linger on me for a moment, a flicker of a smile.

I hid the necklace under my top, it wasn't allowed, but I couldn't part with it. Eric stood in front of the fire watching as each initiate tossed their old faction's clothes in making the fire crackle. I held the light fabric of the yellow dress with the brown sandals in my hands "Come on, toss them in," he was looking at me.

I dropped them in closing my eyes for a brief moment before walking away with Tris, who also looked sad.

I lie in bed and listen to nine people breathing.

I have never slept in the same room as a boy before, but here I have no other option, unless I want to sleep in the hallway.

I am used to sleeping in silence.

Heat swells behind my eyes as I think of home, and when I blink, a tear slips out. I cover my mouth to stifle a sob.

I can't cry, not here. I have to calm down, I think Tris is doing the same. I see her move in her bunk.

It will be all right here. I can look at my reflection whenever I want. I can befriend Christina, and maybe cut my hair short, wait no not my hair, and let other people clean up their own messes.

My hands shake and the tears come faster now, blurring my vision.

It doesn't matter that the next time I see my Johanna, on Visiting Day, she will barely recognize me—if she will come at all, it is Dauntless and she is the leader of Amity. It doesn't matter that I ache at even a split-second memory of her face. I match my inhales to the inhales of the other initiates, and my exhales to their exhales. It doesn't matter.

A strangled sound interrupts the breathing, followed by a heavy sob. Bed springs squeal as a large body turns, and a pillow muffles the sobs, but not enough. They come from the bunk a few down from mine—they belong to a Candor boy, Al, the largest and broadest of all the initiates. He is the last person I expected to break down, but everyone has feelings even if they choose not to show them.

I get up "Al, it's me Ava. It is okay," I offer small words, his face shine with tears and I touch his arm, he is surprised to see someone "It's weak," he mumbles.

"I don't think it is weak, I was crying as well. I miss my mother, she is the leader of Amity. You are human Al, it was brave to admit you feel weak, you miss home, your parents, it will get better in time. You will have friends here, we will be family," he gave a faint smile.

"Thank you, Ava," he hugged me "If you ever need to talk, come find me." I smile touching his face before walking away, I didn't hear him crying anymore tonight.

If my mother knew what I was thinking I know what look she would give me. The corners of her turn up, she would be proud of me.

I fall asleep with a circle of moisture pressed to my cheek.

 **Okay another chapter done please review!**


	3. One Choice 3

**Here is another chapter, I own nothing I have near ten chapter written for One choice and 15 for Collision. So it's going well, it am getting good favorites and likes but no reviews sad panda face…So on to the story, some part will be movie based some book based for future chapters thanks all. please review…**

"The first thing you will learn today is how to shoot a gun. The second thing is how to win a fight."

Four presses a gun into Tris palm without looking at me and keeps walking. "Thankfully, if you are here, you already know how to get on and off a moving train, so I don't need to teach you that."

I shouldn't be surprised that the Dauntless expect us to hit the ground running, but I anticipated more than six hours of rest before the running began. My body is still heavy from sleep but it will fade fast, in Amity we rise before the sun.

"Initiation is divided into three stages. We will measure your progress and rank you according to your performance in each stage. The stages are not weighed equally in determining your final rank, so it is possible, though difficult, to drastically improve your rank over time."

I stare at the weapon in my hand. Never in my life did I expect to hold a gun let alone fire one. It feels dangerous to me, as if just by touching it I could hurt someone, I look at Peter with a smile.

"We believe that preparation eradicates cowardice, which we define as the failure to act in the midst of fear," says Four. "Therefore each stage of initiation is intended to prepare you in a different way. The first stage is primarily physical; the second, primarily emotional; the third, primarily mental."

"But what…" Peter yawns through his words. "What does firing a gun have to do with…bravery?"

Four flips the gun in his hand, presses the barrel to Peter's forehead, and clicks a bullet into place.

Peter freezes with his lips parted, the yawn dead in his mouth.

"Wake. Up," Four snaps. "You are holding a loaded gun, you idiot. Act like it."

He lowers the gun. Once the immediate threat is gone, Peter's green eyes harden. I'm surprised he can stop himself from responding, after speaking his mind all his life in Candor but he does, his cheeks red.

"And to answer your question…you are far less likely to soil your pants and cry for your mother if you're prepared to defend yourself." Four stops walking at the end of the row and turns on his heel.

"This is also information you may need later in stage one. So, watch me."

He faces the wall with the targets on it—one square of plywood with three red circles on it for each of us. He stands with his feet apart, holds the gun in both hands, and fires. The bang is so loud it hurts my ears. I crane my neck to look at the target. The bullet went through the middle circle.

I set my feet shoulder-width apart, and firmly wrap both hands around the handle of the gun, keeping my feet firmly planted on the ground so I won't stumble back when it goes off. It's heavy and but not hard to lift away from my body, but I want it to be as far from my face as possible. I squeeze the trigger, hesitantly at first and then harder, cringing away from the gun. The sound isn't pleasant but I look, I smile it went right through the middle of the target, But Tris's wasn't to be found.

I fire again and again and again, and they all do the same, like when we toss Oranges through many hoops, to see who can win.

"Statistically speaking," the Erudite boy next to Tris—his name is Will—says, grinning at her, "you should have hit the target at least once by now, even by accident." He is blond, with shaggy hair and a crease between his eyebrows.

"Is that so," she said without inflection.

"Yeah," he says. "I think you're actually defying nature."

"Don't pick one her, or my bullet might miss, Will," my narrowed eyes, or at least something he saw in them had him turn.

"Keep your feet planted Tris, wait for the recoil of the gun. Think before you act, take a deep breath," I said trying to help as Four was walking back and forth between the groups.

I watch her squeeze the trigger, hard, and this time she was ready for the recoil. It makes Tris's hands jump back, but her feet stay planted. A bullet hole appears at the edge of the target/

"So you see, I'm right. The stats don't lie," he says.

She smiled a little.

It takes her five rounds to hit the middle of the target. I liked it, it came easy hitting the middle every time I lower the gun. There is power in controlling something that can do so much damage—in controlling something, period. Maybe I do belong here.

By the time we break for lunch, my arms throb from holding up the gun and my fingers are hard to straighten. I massage them on my way to the dining hall. Christina invites Al to sit with us.

I move my peas around with my fork, and my thoughts drift back to the aptitude tests. When Tori warned me that being Divergent was dangerous, I felt like it was branded on my face and if I so much as turned the wrong way, someone would see it. So far it hasn't been a problem, but that doesn't make me feel safe. What if I let my guard down and something terrible happens?

"Oh, come on. You don't remember me?" Christina asks Al as she makes a sandwich. "We were in Math together just a few days ago. And I am not a quiet person."

"Really Christina, you seem the strong silent type to me," I say as Tris drops her fork into her peas, her face priceless. "I will have to just try harder,"

"You're encouraging her Ava," Tris is coming out of her Abnegation shell more and more.

"I slept through Math most of the time," Al replies. "It was first hour!"

"Tris," says Christina. She snaps her fingers in front of her face. "You in there?"

"What? What is it?"

"I asked if you remember ever taking a class with me," she says. "I mean, no offense, but I probably wouldn't remember if you did. All the Abnegation looked the same to me. I mean, they still do, but now you're not one of them."

We stare at her.

"Sorry, am I being rude?" she asks. "I'm used to just saying whatever is on my mind. Mom used to say that politeness is deception in pretty packaging."

"I think that's why our factions don't usually associate with each other," Tris says, with a short laugh.

Candor and Abnegation don't hate each other the way Erudite and Abnegation do, but they avoid each other. Candor's real problem is with Amity. Those who seek peace above all else, they say, will always deceive to keep the water calm. But Dauntless also don't like Amity either.

"Can I sit here?" says Will, tapping the table with his finger.

"What, you don't want to hang out with your Erudite buddies?" says Christina.

"They aren't my buddies," says Will, setting his plate down. "Just because we were in the same faction doesn't mean we get along.

We have to change again this time I am not happy, neither is Tris, the clothes giving us more movement but the amount of skin made me ill. They were straight legged black cropped pants, that rode low on the waist with a concealed zip and hook fastening a black strap crop top leaving all of your midriff showing, Mother would faint dead, I tied the knitted barefoot black foot sandal as Christina helped tie, Tris and my hair back. "Thank you Christina," I smiled crossing my arms over myself walking, Molly smiling with her crooked teeth.

"Look the Stiff and the Softie, can't show some skin," she taunted but Christina chimed in "Molly, we just wish they would give you more clothes to put on," Molly growled in response.

After lunch Four leads us to a new room. It's huge, with a wood floor that is cracked and creaky and has a large circle painted in the middle. On the left wall is a green board—a chalkboard. My Lower Levels teacher used one, but I haven't seen one since then. Maybe it has something to do with

Dauntless priorities: training comes first, technology comes second.

Our names are written on the board in alphabetical order. Hanging at three-foot intervals along one end of the room are faded black punching bags.

We line up behind them and Four stands in the middle where we can all see him.

"As I said this morning," says Four, "next you will learn how to fight. The purpose of this is to prepare you to act; to prepare your body to respond to threats and challenges—which you will need, if you intend to survive life as a Dauntless."

I can't even think of life as a Dauntless. All I can think about is making it through initiation. "I want to survive Initiation first," I whispered as Tris smiled giving me a nod.

"We will go over technique today and tomorrow you will start to fight each other," says Four. "So I recommend that you pay attention. Those who don't learn fast will get hurt."

Four names a few different punches, demonstrating each one as he does, first against the air and then against the punching bag.

I catch on as we practice. Like with the gun, I need a few tries to figure out how to hold myself and how to move my body to make it look like his. The kicks are easier, though he only teaches us the basics. The punching bag stings my hands and feet, turning my skin red but it moves when I hit it. All around me is the sound of skin hitting tough leather. In Amity we work in fields, there is so much heavy lifting, we do more physical labor than any other faction so I had muscle.

The door opens and Eric walks in. His hair was different, he cut it short. My eyes follow him as I kicked the bag sending it spinning back. "I heard," then he whispered I saw Four's eye's flicker to mine for a split second.

I practiced punching, it stung but it didn't bother me "Ava Eaton, good work, I heard you're a natural with a gun. Your last name, it rings a bell," he smiled coming closer but Four stopped him "I am training, and you're interrupting," his voice calm but menacing all the same as Tris and Christina watched too.

"I will take my leave," his smile still in place.

Four wanders through the crowd of initiates, watching us as we go through the movements again.

When he stops in front of me, my insides twist like someone's stirring them with a fork. He stares at me, his eyes following my body from my head to my feet, not lingering anywhere—a practical, calculating gaze.

"Ava, you need to be very careful around Eric. Trust me." Four said and for some reason I did. "Why is my last name important? This isn't the first time either, the Abnegation man, Marcus, nearly fainted when he saw me," I whispered his eyes betrayed him "Another time, not here," Four says, then he walks away heading towards Tris.

I punch then kick, my eyes also watching as Four suddenly presses a hand to Tris's stomach. His fingers are so long that though the heel of his hand touches one side of her rib cage his fingertips still touch the other side.

Will he break her? I can see his lips moving as he whispers in her ear, helping her.

When Four dismisses us for dinner, Christina nudges Tris with her elbow.

"I'm surprised he didn't break you in half," she says. She wrinkles her nose. "He scares the hell out of me. It's that quiet voice he uses."

"Yeah. He's…" she looks over her shoulder at him. He is quiet, and remarkably self-possessed. But she didn't look like she was afraid that he would hurt her. "…definitely intimidating," she finally said. We changed back into our skin tight black leather clothes, my hair down, leaving the jacket in my chest, just the pants and skin tight tank top showing I actually had a decent sized chest.

Al, who was in front of us, turns around once we reach the Pit and announces, "I want to get a tattoo."

From behind us, Will asks, "A tattoo of what?"

"I don't know." Al laughs. "I just want to feel like I've actually left the old faction. Stop crying about it." When we don't respond, he adds, "I know you've heard me. And thank you again Ava, it meant a lot,"

"Yeah, learn to quiet down, will you?" Christina pokes Al's thick arm. "I think you're right. We're half in, half out right now. If we want all the way in, we should look the part."

She gives me a look, then she looks to Tris.

"No. I will not cut my hair," I hear Tris say, "or dye it a strange color. Or pierce my face."

"How about your bellybutton?" she says.

"Or yours?" Will says with a snort.

"Oh no, I will only do certain things. My hair is off limits," I was final on this.

I groan.

Now that training is done for the day, we can do whatever we want until it's time to sleep. The idea makes me feel almost giddy, although that might be from fatigue.

The Pit is swarming with people. Christina announces that she Tris and I will meet Al and Will at the tattoo parlor then she drags us toward the clothing place. We stumble up the path, climbing higher above the Pit floor, scattering stones with our shoes.

"What is wrong with my clothes?" Tris says. "I'm not wearing gray anymore."

"They're ugly and gigantic." She sighs. "Will you just let me help you? If you don't like what I put you in, you never have to wear it again, I promise."

Ten minutes later I watch Tris stand in front of a mirror in the clothing place wearing a knee-length black dress. The skirt isn't full, but it isn't stuck to her thighs, either—unlike the first one she picked out, which she refused. Goose bumps appear on Tris's bare arms. I slip the tie from her hair and she shakes it out of its braid so it hangs wavy over her shoulders.

Then she holds up a black pencil and a black tube.

"Eyeliner and mascara," she says.

"You aren't going to be able to make me pretty, you know." she closed her eyes and holds still. She runs the tip of the pencil along her water line of her top and bottom lid then brushes over her lashes several times with the mascara.

"You're already pretty Tris," I say with conviction.

She opens her eyes and for the first time stares openly at her own reflection, or so it seems. I was next with the liner and mascara, I wanted mine a bit darker than hers.

"Sorry, I've just never been allowed to stare at my reflection for this long."

"Really?" Christina shakes her head. "Abnegation is a strange faction, I have to tell you."

"Let's go watch Al get tattooed," I say.

It's easy to allocate resources when everyone gets the same thing, but everything is more varied at the Dauntless compound. Every Dauntless gets a certain amount of points to spend per month.

Christina, Tris and I race down the narrow path to the tattoo place. When we get there, Al is sitting in the chair already and a small, narrow man with more ink than bare skin is drawing a spider on his arm.

Will and Christina flip through books of pictures, elbowing each other when they find a good one.

When they sit next to each other, I notice how opposite they are, Christina dark and lean, Will pale and solid, but alike in their easy smiles.

Tris and I wander around the room, looking at the artwork on the walls. These days the only artists are in Amity.

We skim the wall with our fingertips. A picture of a hawk on one wall reminds me of Tori's tattoo. Beneath it is a sketch of a bird in flight.

"It's a raven," a voice behind me says. "Pretty, right?"

We turn to see Tori standing there. I feel like I am back in the aptitude test room, with the mirrors all around me and the wires connected to my forehead. I didn't expect to see her again.

"Tori?" I say as Tris does the same "Tori?" her face looks sad seeing us together here in Dauntless.

"Well, hello there girls." She smiles. "Never thought I would see you again. Beatrice and Ava, isn't it?"

"Tris, actually," Tris is the one to say. "Do you work here?" I ask.

"I do. I just took a break to administer the tests. Most of the time I'm here." She taps her chin. "I recognize that name. You were the first jumper, weren't you?"

"And you Ava, pushed a boy from the ledge because a remark he made," her eyes on us.

"Yes, I was."

"Yes, I did,"

"Well done."

"Thanks." I touch the sketch of the bird. "Listen—I need to talk to you about…" I glance over at Tris, Al, Will, and Christina. I can't corner Tori now; they'll ask questions. "…something. Sometime."

"I am not sure that would be wise," she says quietly. "I helped you as much as I could, and now you will have to go it alone."

I purse my lips. She has answers; I know she does. If she won't give them to me now I will have to find a way to make her tell me some other time.

"Want a tattoo?" she says.

The Angel wings sketch holds my attention. I never intended to get pierced or tattooed when I came here. I know that if I do, it will place another wedge between me and my family that I can never remove. And if my life here continues as it has been, it may soon be the least of the wedges between us.

But I understand now what Tori said about her tattoo representing a fear she overcame—a reminder of where she was, as well as a reminder of where she is now. Maybe there is a way to honor my old life as I embrace my new one.

"Yes," I say. "The Angel wings. Tris what are you getting?"

"Three flying ravens," Tori smiled hooking everything up "You two could talk to each other, but no one else. Do you two understand?" we gave her a look "you TWO can talk two each other but no one else," I gasped at the same time Tris did.

I was done as Tris was getting her's done by Tori, the wings spread between my shoulder's, I wanted to fly when I was a child.

Tris's tattoo was "Three of these flying birds." she touched her collarbone, marking the path of their flight—toward her heart. One for each member of the family she left behind.

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	4. One Choice 4

**Here is another chapter just for fun, hope you are enjoying please review! I own nothing about Divergent! Thanks for reading.**

I shower with the girls watching, Molly tried to poke fun but she couldn't take the heat from others words. We dressed to train in the straight legged black cropped pants that rode low on the waist with a concealed zip and hook fastening a black strap crop top leaving all of your midriff showing. Tris was better with getting dressed in front of boys with Will and Al, now Edward was around too he was pretty nice.

Christina put our hair up again, her hair was too short. I was ready, the knitted black foot sandal on as we walked to the training room together.

"Since there are an odd number of you, one of you won't be fighting today," says Four, stepping away from the board in the training room. He gives Tris a look. The space next to her name is blank.

"This isn't good," says Christina, nudging me with her elbow. Her elbow prods one of my sore muscles—I have more sore muscles than not-sore muscles, this morning—and I wince.

"Ow."

"Sorry," she says. "But look. I'm up against the Tank."

Christina, Tris and I sat together at breakfast, and earlier we shielded Tris from the rest of the dormitory while she changed. I haven't had a friend like them before.

"The Tank?" I find Christina's name on the board. Written next to it is "Molly."

"Yeah, Peter's slightly more feminine-looking minion," she says, nodding toward the cluster of people on the other side of the room. Molly is tall like Christina, but that's where the similarities end.

She has broad shoulders, bronze skin, and a bulbous nose.

"Those three"—Christina points at Peter, Drew, and Molly in turn—"have been inseparable since they crawled out of the womb, practically. I hate them."

Will and Al stand across from each other in the arena. They put their hands up by their faces to protect themselves, like Four taught us, and shuffle in a circle around each other. Al is half a foot taller than Will, and twice as broad. As I stare at him, I realize that even his facial features are big—big nose, big lips, and big eyes. This fight won't last long.

I glance at Peter and his friends. Drew is shorter than both Peter and Molly but he's built like a boulder, and his shoulders are always hunched. His hair is orange-red, like the color of an old carrot.

"What's wrong with them?" I ask, Tris also watches.

"Peter is pure evil. When we were kids, he would pick fights with people from other factions and then when an adult came to break it up he'd cry and make up some story about how the other kid started it. And of course, they believed him, because we were Candor and we couldn't lie. Ha. Ha."

Christina wrinkles her nose and adds, "Drew is just his sidekick. I doubt he has an independent thought in his brain. And Molly…she's the kind of person who fries ants with a magnifying glass just to watch them flail around."

In the arena, Al punches Will hard in the jaw. I wince. Across the room, Eric smirks at Al, and turns one of the rings in his eyebrow.

Will stumbles to the side, one hand pressed to his face, and blocks Al's next punch with his free hand. Judging by his grimace, blocking the punch is as painful as a blow would have been. Al is slow, but powerful.

Peter, Drew, and Molly cast furtive looks in our direction and then pull their heads together, whispering.

"I think they know we're talking about them," I say.

"So? They already know I hate them."

"They do? How?"

Christina fakes a smile at them and waves, I smile waving as well but Tris looks down. "Tris at some point you will have to stand up for yourself,"

Will hooks a foot around one of Al's legs and yanks back, knocking Al to the ground. Al scrambles to his feet.

"Because I've told them," she says, through the gritted teeth of her smile. Her teeth are straight on top and crooked on the bottom. She looks at me. "We try to be pretty honest about our feelings in Candor. Plenty of people have told me that they don't like me. And plenty of people haven't. Who cares?"

"We aren't supposed to hurt people," Tris says.

"I like to think I'm helping them by hating them," she says. "I'm reminding them that they aren't God's gift to humankind."

I laugh a little at that and focus on the arena again. Will and Al face each other for a few more seconds, more hesitant than they were before. Will flicks his pale hair from his eyes. They glance at Four like they're waiting for him to call the fight off, but he stands with his arms folded, giving no response. A few feet away from him, Eric checks his watch.

After a few seconds of circling, Eric shouts, "Do you think this is a leisure activity? Should we break for nap-time? Fight each other!"

"But…" Al straightens, letting his hands down, and says, "Is it scored or something? When does the fight end?"

"It ends when one of you is unable to continue," says Eric.

"According to Dauntless rules," Four says, "one of you could also concede."

Eric narrows his eyes at Four. "According to the old rules," he says. "In the new rules, no one concedes."

"A brave man acknowledges the strength of others," Four replies.

"A brave man never surrenders."

Four and Eric stare at each other for a few seconds. I feel like I am looking at two different kinds of Dauntless—the honorable kind, and the ruthless kind. But even I know that in this room, it's Eric, the youngest leader of the Dauntless, who has the authority.

Beads of sweat dot Al's forehead; he wipes them with the back of his hand.

"This is ridiculous," Al says, shaking his head. "What's the point of beating him up? We're in the same faction!"

"Oh, you think it's going to be that easy?" Will asks, grinning. "Go on. Try to hit me, slowpoke."

Will puts his hands up again. I see determination in Will's eyes that wasn't there before. Does he really believe he can win? One hard shot to the head and Al will knock him out cold. That is, if he can actually hit Will. Al tries a punch, and Will ducks, the back of his neck shining with sweat. He dodges another punch, slipping around Al and kicking him hard in the back. Al lurches forward and turns.

I glance towards Eric, my eyes meet his and my cheeks flare with new found embarrassment. "Oh my" I hear Tris say, I look back to see Wills eyes roll back in his and all the tension fall from his body. He slips from Al's grasp, dead weight, and crumples to the floor. Cold rushes down my back and fills my chest.

Al's eyes widen, and he crouches next to Will, tapping his cheek with one hand. The room falls silent as we wait for Will to respond. For a few seconds, he doesn't, just lies on the ground with an arm bent beneath him. Then he blinks, clearly dazed.

"Get him up," Eric says. He stares with greedy eyes at Will's fallen body, like the sight is a meal and he hasn't eaten in weeks. The curl of his lip is cruel.

Four turns to the chalkboard and circles Al's name. Victory.

"Next up Drew and Ava," Eric shouts his eyes looking cold, they move in between Drew and myself. I stand with my hands up as Drew smiles "I will take it easy, shortcake," he smirks at me, I narrow my eyes. "You don't get to call me that" I snarled, I saw Eric giving him a rather angry look.

We circle each other, I am aware Four and Eric are watching with intense eyes. Drew catches my side I only stumble back. Drew punches over and over hitting nothing but air as my elbow lands a solid blow to his throat, his hands fly to his throat as I kick in his knee, he goes down.

I wait to see if he gets up, but he doesn't "Up Drew," Eric bellows as Drew shakes it off moving to his feet, I move barley avoiding his ham sized fist before landing another blow to his face. I am small I can't let him hit me more than once or I might be done for. I flip him over. He lands, his body landing on the mat makes a thunderous noise but he stood "Sorry," I punch him in the temple, a sore spot.

He was dizzy and falling and thankfully not able to continue "Ava, Victor," Eric smiles as Four turns to the chalkboard and circles my name, I thought I saw a smile. Victory.

I was sore, my side killing me but I limped off to Tris and Christina.

"You beat Drew," Christina smiled hugging me as I winced in pain "She is hurt," Tris touched my side "I will be fine,"

"Next up—Molly and Christina!" shouts Eric.

Christina cracks her knuckles. I would wish her luck, but I don't know what good that would do.

Christina isn't weak but she's much narrower than Molly. Hopefully her height will help her.

Four leaving makes me nervous and by the way Tris is watching Four she agrees. Leaving us with Eric is like hiring a babysitter who spends his time sharpening knives. A very hot knife sharpening babysitter who tests how sharp the knife is by throwing them right above your head.

Christina tucks her hair behind her ears. It is chin-length, black, and pinned back with silver clips.

She cracks another knuckle. She looks nervous, and no wonder—who wouldn't be nervous after watching Will collapse like a rag doll?

I snap to attention when Christina kicks Molly in the side. Molly gasps and grits her teeth like she's about to growl through them. A lock of stringy black hair falls across her face, but she doesn't brush it away.

Al stands next to us but I'm too focused on the new fight to look at him, or congratulate him on winning, assuming that's what he wants. I'm not sure.

Molly smirks at Christina, and without warning, dives, hands outstretched, at Christina's midsection. She hits her hard, knocking her down, and pins her to the ground. Christina thrashes, but Molly is heavy and doesn't budge.

She punches but Christina moves her head out of the way but Molly just punches again, and again, until her fist hits Christina's jaw, her nose, her mouth. Without thinking, Tris grabs Al's arm as tightly as she can. She just need something to hold on to. Blood runs down the side of Christina's face and splatters on the ground next to her cheek. This is the first time I have ever prayed for someone to fall unconscious.

"Oh no, come on Christina. Tris she will be okay," I whispered but I wasn't sure if I was right or wrong. Or if I was assuring her or myself.

But she doesn't. Christina screams and drags one of her arms free. She punches Molly in the ear, knocking her off-balance, and wriggles free. She comes to her knees, holding her face with one hand.

The blood streaming from her nose is thick and dark and covers her fingers in seconds. She screams again and crawls away from Molly. I can tell by the heaving of her shoulders that she's sobbing, but I can barely hear her over the throbbing in my ears.

Please go unconscious.

Molly kicks Christina's side, sending her sprawling on her back. Al frees his hand and pulls Tris tight to his side. I clench my teeth to keep from crying out, the sight of Christina clutching her rib cage makes me want to stand between her and Molly.

"Stop!" wails Christina as Molly pulls her foot back to kick again. She holds out a hand. "Stop! I'm…" She coughs. "I'm done."

Molly smiles, and I sigh with relief.

Eric walks toward the center of the arena, his movements slow, and stands over Christina with his arms folded. He says quietly, "I'm sorry, what did you say? You're done?"

Christina pushes herself to her knees. When she takes her hand from the ground, it leaves a red hand print behind. She pinches her nose to stop the bleeding and nods.

"Get up," he says. If he had yelled, I might not have felt like everything inside my stomach was about to come out of it. If he had yelled, I would have known that the yelling was the worst he planned to do. But his voice is quiet and his words precise. He grabs Christina's arm, yanks her to her feet, and drags her out the door.

"Follow me," he says to the rest of us, I didn't want to see this side of him, I couldn't move, I wanted Four to put a stop to this nonsense.

And we do, Peter with glee. I feel the roar of the river in my chest.

We stand near the railing. The Pit is almost empty; it is the middle of the afternoon though it feels like it's been night for days. I was definitely starting to lose my tan.

If there were people around I doubt any of them would help Christina. We are with Eric, for one thing, and for another, the Dauntless have different rules—rules that brutality does not violate.

Eric shoves Christina against the railing.

"Climb over it," he says.

"What?" She says it like she expects him to relent, but her wide eyes and ashen face suggest otherwise. Eric will not back down.

"Climb over the railing," says Eric again, pronouncing each word slowly. "If you can hang over the chasm for five minutes, I will forget your cowardice. If you can't, I will not allow you to continue initiation."

The railing is narrow and made of metal. The spray from the river coats it, making it slippery and cold. Even if Christina is brave enough to attempt to hang from the railing for five minutes, she may not be able to even get a grip of the railing. Either she decides to be factionless or she risks death.

When I close my eyes, I imagine her falling onto the jagged rocks below causing shudder.

I start to shake and held hands with Tris.

"Fine," she says, her voice shaking.

She is tall enough to swing her leg over the railing. Her foot shakes. She puts her toe on the ledge as she lifts her other leg over. Facing us, she wipes her hands on her pants and holds on to the railing so hard her knuckles turn white. Then she takes one foot off the ledge. And the other. I see her face between the bars of the barrier, determined, her lips pressed together.

Next to me, Al sets his watch.

For the first minute and a half, Christina is fine. Her hands stay firm around the railing and her arms don't shake. I start to think she might make it and show Eric how foolish he was to doubt her.

But then the river hits the wall, and white water sprays against Christina's back. Her face strikes the barrier, and she cries out. Her hands slip so she's just holding on by her fingertips. She tries to get a better grip, but now her hands are wet.

Tris, Will, Edward, and Al all pale but I rush forward, how could I not? I rather leave here and go back to Amity then see my friend die. Seeing my friend dangling, her life could be over, how one could not help.

Arms strong one's arm around me "I can kick you out of Dauntless, for this, this was her punishment," his voice like ice, her fingertips blue, her face panicked. I slammed my head back, it hurt. Was his head made of rock? He dropped me to the floor.

"You hit me?" he looked stunned before he picked me up again but I look to Christina.

Christina hasn't cried since we got here, but now her face crumples and she lets out a sob that is louder than the river. Another wave hits the wall and the spray coats her body. One of the droplets hits my cheek. Her hands slip again, and this time, one of them falls from the railing, so she's hanging by four fingertips.

"DON'T GIVE UP CHRISTINA," I yell as Al keeps it going "Come on Christina," but now I look into the cold eyes of Eric, blood drips from his nose "I would do it again, I don't give up on friends, I think she is brave for admitting she was done, Molly is a coward for preying on the weak," I hoped my voice was steady.

Christina swings her arm, fumbling for the railing. No one else cheers her on, but Al brings his big hands together and shouts, his eyes holding hers. I wish I could…I wish I could move, but I just stare at her from Eric's arms.

"Come on," I hear Tris say. "One minute left," she said louder, I sighed.

Christina's other hand finds the railing again. Her arms shake so hard I wonder if the earth is quaking beneath us, jiggling my vision, and I just didn't notice.

"Come on, Christina," Al and Tris say with me, our voices join together.

Another wave of water splashes against Christina's back, and she shrieks as both her hands slip off the railing. A scream launches from my mouth. It sounds like it belongs to someone else, I try but can't escape the prison of his arms.

But she doesn't fall. She grabs the bars of the barrier. Her fingers slide down the metal until I can't see her head anymore; they are all I see.

"Five minutes are up," he says, almost spitting the words at Eric.

Eric checks his own watch. Taking his time, tilting his wrist, all while my stomach twists and I can't breathe. When I blink, I see Rita's sister on the pavement below the train tracks, limbs bent at strange angles; I see Rita screaming and sobbing; I see myself turning away. Even with one arm I can't move, he won't let me go, I might be gone as of tonight.

"Fine," Eric says. "You can come up, Christina."

Al walks toward the railing.

"No," Eric says. "She has to do it on her own."

"No, she doesn't," Al growls. "She did what you said. She's not a coward. She did what you said."

Eric doesn't respond. Al reaches over the railing, and he's so tall that he can reach Christina's wrist.

She grabs his forearm. Al pulls her up, his face red with frustration, and Tris runs forward to help. She's too short to do much good, as I suspected, but she grips Christina under the shoulder once she's high enough, and Al and Tris haul her over the barrier. She drops to the ground, her face still blood-smeared from the fight, her back soaking wet, her body quivering.

They kneel next to her. Her eyes lift to mine, then shift to Al and Tris, and we all catch our breath together.

"All of you go back to the training room Four should be back, I have another Initiate to punish," Eric sounded cruel but Tris and Christina moved forward. I waved them off, I made my choice.

He dropped me but this time I was ready landing on my feet "Move it Ava,' he was leading me down a hall, I shook only seeing his back. He was going to a stone room "You can't do things like that Ava, you can't think I will play favorites with you. She has to learn, just like you," Eric says.

"I don't think you will play favorites, you have no reason to," it was the truth, he looked at me over his shoulder "You honestly don't, do you?" I was perplexed.

"You will get five lashes," that was an older punishment "Take your top off," I stood straight taking off the black top turning away from him "Angel wings, don't worry I won't hit them," I heard the loud crack of the leather before I felt it, pain red hot blistering pain flared across my back.

I bite my lip to stop myself from crying out in pain, or for him to stop, once… twice…three times…the fourth nearly sends me over the edge I can feel cold blood trickle down my back, as the fifth hits he whispers five, it's done, I did it.

"Next time, don't interfere,"

"I will not stand for something I don't think is right, I don't give up on my friends, she needed me so I was there," in his hand was my training shirt, I wouldn't turn towards him, I wouldn't show him my breast. I just held my hand out feeling the fabric being dropped into it.

"I didn't like doing that Ava, you don't have to believe it, but I didn't," I whimpered while trying to get the top over the bloody lashes "Stop, you'll hurt yourself,"

"No more than you have Eric," I whispered feeling his fingertips trailing as gentle as a feather over my back pulling fabric over it, but pain flared red hot until it was fully on.

"Go to training," I made to move to the door when he stopped me "I didn't want to hurt you, Ava," he placed his palm on my face it felt rough, there was something warm in his eyes for the first time. His thumb brushed over my nose, my cheek, even my lips, before footsteps could be heard. Eric opened the door, I was pale and sweaty you could see blood on my hand, dripping down my back as I made my way back to the training room, seeing Peter in the Arena.

Christina and Tris are the first to me, I lean on Christina she takes my weight "Don't," I winced when she tried to put her arms around me, I stood straight.

"What did Eric do?" Tris whispered coming close so we couldn't be over heard, Four was watching I was taking deep breathes "My back," was all I got out. I could feel their movements "He is crazy,"

"We have to clean this," Tris whispered "Soon as we can, I don't need others to see, I wouldn't like to be punched in the back," they understood, soon it reached our leisure time.

We waited until everyone left the training room to walk out, the blood was noticeable "I will bring you something for it," we turned seeing Four, his eyes dark and dangerous, hate and anger clear as the morning sky.

"Thank you," Tris smiled "I just want to say thank you Ava, for what you did, it took guts to hit Eric and do what you did for me. I am so sorry," Christina was near tears again, I was hunched over the sink as they cleaned the wounds "He missed your wings, how nice of him," you could hear Tris mutter under her breath.

"He is a stand up kind of guy," I vented as Four gave a knock to the wall, a towel covered my front, he walked in with a hardened grace, a small kit in hand "Let me do this,"

"Sure," I gave them a nod his fingers nibble and daft as he went to work, it stung so Christina took one of my hands and Tris took the other until he was finished "It took a lot to act the way you did, more so when you came back into the training room," then he was gone as I dressed and we headed to dinner taking our normal seats with Will, Al, and Edward.

I smiled, I winced once or twice when I had to move but other than that all I felt was an uncomfortable burning sensation. I felt like I was being watched, the hairs stood on the back of my neck. Eric was high up watching, I just turned back to my friends.

"Are you okay?' Tris asked me I didn't know the answer anymore.

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	5. One Choice 5

**Here is another chapter, hope you are enjoying it. I am working on doing certain things different. I don't own anything and no money is being made thanks for reading, now if you could just please review.**

I woke with a start, Tris was glaring at Peter and Christina was calling him every foul name in the book. "What is going on?" I questioned, Christina pointed towards Tris's bed. Spray painted in red was the word 'Stiff' with I snarl I was on my feet and ready to attack his stupid smug face.

I was rarely furious but this was one of the times I was. Al was helping Tris with her sheets, hearing Peter and the nonsense spill from his to thin lips. "You and I will never be in the same faction," his words echo in my ears.

"Because one way or another Peter you won't be Dauntless, at least not for long," Christina holds me back keeping her hands around my waist trying to avoid my back.

He looks me in the eyes, he sees something because he doesn't answer, just walks out with Drew and Molly the tank. "I hate them, Tris I will help you wash your frame tonight," I offer her my help after she helped me last night.

"Thank you," she smiles more often now.

We reach the door to the training room.

I look at the chalkboard when I walk in. Tris didn't have to fight yesterday, but today she definitely will.

Tris's opponent is Peter, across from mine is Molly.

"Oh no," says Christina, who shuffles in behind us. Her face is bruised and she looks like she is trying not to limp. When she sees the board, she crumples the muffin wrapper she is holding into her fist. "Are they serious? They're really going to make you fight him? Ava you should have gotten the reprieve," but Christina got it today.

Peter is almost a foot taller than Tris, and yesterday, he beat his opponent in less than five minutes. Today Drew's face is more black-and-blue than flesh-toned, I give a smile but I look at Molly who gives me a crooked smile "Pyscho," I muttered as the girls laughed making Molly more angry.

"Maybe you can just take a few hits and pretend to go unconscious," suggests Al to Tris "No one would blame you." I tried but her face was pale white.

"Yeah," even her voice was tense. "Maybe."

I stare at my name on the board. My cheeks feel hot, I stand at the side of the room when my name is called.

"Ava, Molly you're up," Four calls out not looking happy either.

I took a deep breath "Good luck," I hear times four, Tris wanted to talk tonight alone, I gave her a nod before walking up to the mat. The scabbed up lashes visible in our training clothes, the black straight legged cropped pants with the black knit strap cropped top. I was much faster than she is so I'm sure Molly will not win today.

I watch her as she moves to her left, I counter to my right my hands held up to block her, she goes too fast, I bring my knee up into her side than my elbow into her face knocking her to the arena floor.

But she doesn't stay down, she tackles me sending us both sprawling to the floor my back on fire, I plant my foot on her chest kicking with force hearing her cry of pain. I jumped up with barely a glance over my shoulder, my blood was on the arena floor, Molly smiled "Oh someone got lashes,' her glee at this astounds me.

She is aiming for my back every time, I move I land every blow, she is barely standing when I bring her face down to my knee. By the time Molly peels herself off the ground, looking only half-conscious thanks to me.

"Victory to Ava," Eric smiled walking to the edge of the arena before Four cuts him off holding his hand out "Come Ava, Christina get a cloth," Eric looked ready to tear into Four.

"Come on Ava," Christina smiled I just walked away hearing a murmur "I know Four. Does she?" what did Eric know, I gave them both a look.

Christina, Will, Al, and I stood watching as Tris walked into the arena to face Peter, the way he smiles at her…he knows she won't win. I see Four standing by the door with his arms folded. His mouth is puckered, like he just swallowed something sour. Next to him is Eric, who taps his foot faster than my heartbeat.

One second Peter and Tris are standing there, staring at each other, and the next Peter's hands are up by his face, his elbows bent. His knees are bent too, like he's ready to spring.

"Come on, Stiff," he says, his eyes glinting. "Just one little tear. Maybe some begging." He wants people to hear his taunts, he wants people to fear him, but as it stands Edward and I are above him in rankings. Tris tried to land a solid kick to his side but he merely caught her leg, Peter yanked her leg with force making her back smack in the arena floor, but she doesn't stay down for more than a few seconds, she is on her feet again.

"Stop playing with her," snaps Eric. "I don't have all day."

I am going to hit Eric again, I give him the look that says it too he just shrugs his wide shoulders.

Peter's mischievous look disappears. I don't want to watch but I can't look away, he hits Tris in the face, he doesn't stop, he likes it too much, he lands a hard kick to her chest and she is down. I want her just to stay down, but she won't, I know because I wouldn't. It takes a little but she is up, Tris is covered in blood and is stumbling.

"Please stop the fight," I whisper but it doesn't carry, Christina's hands find mine and the boys stay behind us. Peter is relentless, I want him as my next fight, I will beg Four, I'll even beg Eric if I have to. I see Four shove the door open and walk out. Tris is down as Peter is still on her "ENOUGH!" I scream but he doesn't stop, he kicks her in the face.

"Sorry Softie," he smiled but a deep voice boomed "So, Peter, was she down and not moving?"

"Yes," Peter says.

"Well we don't prey on the weak in Dauntless, we aren't cowards," he towered over Peter, who was red and angry. "Al, Edward take Tris to the ward now," his eyes fall on me "Ever think of shutting up,"

"No, not really. This is what I think about," I was fast my fist moved before anyone could blink, Peter was on the floor holding his eye "I can't wait until I get you Peter, because I am going to rip you apart,"

"Go now, its six, head to dinner," I turned but a hand caught my shoulder "I want to talk to you a minute Ava," his tone was softer.

"Do you know Four?" he asked once everyone had shuffled out of the room and the doors were shut.

"He is my trainer, so yeah…" I gave him a confused look, he shook his head "No, before here."

"No Eric, if I may ask, what you are implying?" he just smiled "Nothing shortcake, get dressed for dinner,"

I shook off my confusion and ran to my bunk, I dressed fast in our normal leather pants, black tank top, boots and leather jacket before heading to dinner. The others went and saw Tris.

"We told her you stepped in and got in trouble again. But the smile when she heard she punched Peter," Christina laughed bumping shoulders with Will, did they notice how often they did that?

"I can't believe Eric gave you lashes," Al looked so sad, but I patted his arm "It was well worth it," I winked at Christina.

I hated that there wasn't any fresh fruit or vegetables here, it was all canned and tasted gross and it was definitely not as good for you as fresh fruit and vegetables. I saw Four walking in "Be back," I got up heading in his direction "Four," I looked up at him since he was much taller "Ava," Four says.

"Why is Eric questioning if I know you from before. I also heard him telling you he knows, and him ask you if I know. Neither of you had told me anything. Now, either you tell me what's going on or I go get Eric to tell me," he just looks at me for a few moments before pulling me to the side.

"I didn't want you to find out like this Ava but Eric will tell you regardless." We are alone in a hall, only the blue light shining. "My real last name is Eaton, when I saw you it was like I was looking at my mother. So I took some of your DNA when I cleaned your back. I ran it through a scan along with mine, the results showed you're my sister,"

I stumbled back, my eyes filling with tears when he made a move toward me "Four, we need you now," it was a burly man "Can it wait?"

"No,"

"We need to talk Ava, I will come find you. Don't tell Eric you know," then he was gone but I just stood there thinking, hearing Will and Christina the first night telling Four and myself "You two look alike,"

"Why are you just standing there?" I spun seeing Eric, his hair shaved on both sides with it done short on top "Trying to figure out why there isn't any fresh fruit," I mused.

"Amity won't supply to us," I gave him a look "Why?"

"I don't know, because we are Dauntless," he smiled taking a knife from his back pocket cleaning his nails "I am heading to Amity right now," I walked away, I stopped turning around "Aren't you coming? I can't leave without a Dauntless."

"You honestly think you of all people can get the leader, Johanna, to provide the Dauntless with fresh fruit, grains and vegetables?"

"Come and find out," he was game, we walked out together. The sky dark but the train was running "You ready shortcake,"

"As I will ever be," he was running, my legs shorter but I managed to grasp the handle pulling myself up my feet on the ledge on the last car, he smiled his hand out without thought I placed mine into his. He pulled me in "It will be a little until we get to Amity," his voice was deep and menacing, it always was.

He was leaning against the edge of the door watching but I sat my face contorted with pain "You're very impressive, a prodigy." His dark eyes on me sending shivers down my body.

"I always picked things up easy," I winked "I think this is a wasted trip, but not like I really mind," he admitted, I was confused.

"It won't be wasted," I was determined. Time was slipping by, I knew he was watching me, but my brother, it felt odd thinking this, Four was my brother. "Up," his hand was out, it was so warm. "See the lights, that's Amity," I could see the fields and all the large dome was far but could be seen.

"JUMP," I did letting out a strangled cry before he picked me up "I am fine, it was just my back," his face twisted before he set me on my feet. We walked through the grass until we reached the trees, lights shimmered and the adults could be seen talking under the dining hall.

"Let me talk Eric, seriously don't talk," I smiled, his wicked smile came pulling at his piercings "Fine, just this once,"

As we got closer mother could be seen smiling, her shawl ever present. It wasn't until we are at least twenty feet I made our presence known "Mother," I say, my voice to her was sweet as honey, when she turned tears could be seen.

"My child, come let me see you in the light," I walked a little faster, she didn't looked faint seeing me in all black or the Dauntless solider Eric who stood at my side like a dark shadow.

"Oh my child, you have grown. Come drink and eat, the both of you," we are welcomed to the table. I see old friends who smile and wave "Ava, peace and love," Hailey smiles hugging me making me wince, Eric looks ready to rip her small head off.

"Hailey, you look as bright as the radiant sun. Go with peace and love," I smiled, she blushed skipping away from us, Eric looked sick sitting down. "Eric don't eat the bread," I whispered in his ear "I like bread,"

"Don't eat the bread," I repeated in a more stern voice, he just set the bread down with a grunt before taking plenty of others things I ate as well "Mother, I came to speak to you, if I could have a few words in private,"

"My child, of course," we walked to her office, they always agreed as a group but she was the one to distribute food to each faction. Eric stayed looking ill, he would keep his cool.

"What is wrong my child?" she said.

"Two things. I miss you terribly," I hugged her so tight, feeling her arms made me feel so much better but my jacket was with Eric "What is wrong with your back Ava?"

"I got lashes for standing up to a Dauntless leader and hitting him," but I smiled, I didn't regret what I did. "I will have some Erudite healing cream brought up," she sounded proud but worried.

"I am ranked number one, did you know I have a brother?"

"Yes I did. I knew you would do well, I'm so proud of you Ava. But you shouldn't speak of your brother right now," I gave a nod.

"I came to ask for fresh food from Amity, Dauntless doesn't have any, it's all slimy canned stuff and I am Dauntless now," I gave her a pleading look as she sat.

"I knew this would happen, when you went to Dauntless Amity already agreed to start providing Dauntless. Robert will drive you back, once a month two truckloads, more than we give the others. We have harvested more than we have let on," I already knew this.

"Thank you mother," we walked back "Haily get some Healing cream for Ava. Ava please introduce me to this man," mother said her smile wasn't real, she looked at Eric, she was reading him.

"Mother Johanna, this is Eric he is my Dauntless leader. Eric, this is my mother Johanna,"

"Johanna," he held his hand out as did she "Eric, I hope Ava is well taken care of,"

"She is, she is doing very well. Better than anyone believed possible, only if she would listen," he smiled that wicked smile, she wasn't impressed or intimidated by him like most would be.

She pulled a boy side whispering before he ran off "Ava has convinced me and Amity. We will, once a month, bring two truckloads of the freshest fruit, Grains and vegetables to Dauntless, Robert will drive you back with a month's worth tonight. Now child it is near eight, hurry you need rest, here is cream use it well. Go with peace and love." Her smile was filled with love.

"I go with your love and peace in my heart mother," she didn't stop her tears "We have to go now, Ava," I watched from the truck until mother faded from sight, then she was gone.

"How did you? Our leaders couldn't do it"

"I told you I would, it's done," I smiled brightly up at him.

Max and Four stood at the entrance with Eric "You took an initiate out? What were you thinking?" Max yelled but he didn't think or didn't notice the truck "We are allowed to Max, I haven't broken rules." Eric smiled at Four.

"I told you to stay away from her," Four says but his eyes say a lot more, he had a calm rage building up inside.

"Excuse me, I am still right here. I know no rules have been broken, we went to Amity, I talked Johanna into providing Dauntless with fruit, grains and vegetables," but Max laughed "Doubtful,"

"She did,"

"Get the initiates to unload all this," Eric said when they saw it, Four smiled walking in we waited seeing Al and the rest walk out "Well get to unloading this, now!" Eric barked making them jump even the Dauntless born had to help.

"How did you?" Max smiled his hands behind his back "I am good," I went to help but Four stopped me "No, you don't have to help,"

"Why doesn't she have to help," Peter's mouth went off "She is the reason Dauntless has all this and now every month two truckloads, everything we didn't have before." Eric said as Max looked impressed.

"Eric we have to go talk to the other leaders," I actually heard a thank you from Max, but I helped anyway as did Four it was late when I walked to see Tris but she was sleeping in her bunk, I smiled.

"She will be fine," I knew his calm voice "I know,"

"We will talk tomorrow Ava, please get some rest. I assume Dauntless will be thankful tomorrow, we need it," I smiled, he kissed my forehead. It surprised me, was this what 'brotherly love' felt like? It was odd but I liked it. I changed before slipping into my bunk.

The next morning Christina had to wake Tris, you can tell by her stiff movements and her groan she is sore and in a lot of pain. I offer her my hand helping her up hearing Christina chime in "I'll run and get us some breakfast. You just…get ready. Looks like it might take you a while,"

It is only Tris and I alone, she fumble's for a clean shirt "Here let me help before you hurt yourself even more," I find one then tie her hair back into a ponytail, that's as far as my skills go.

"How many did they rule out with you?" she whispered I looked around "None, what about you?"

"Only Amity and Candor," I looked around "I am worried about the whole mental part, we need to talk to Tori again," she agreed, she would have at least some answers. By the time Christina comes back, a muffin in each hand one balanced in her mouth, I'm sitting on the edge of my bed, staring at Tris' untied shoes. I would have to bend over to tie them.

But Christina just passes me a muffin and crouches in front of Tris to tie her shoes. Gratitude surges in my chest, warm and a little like an ache. Maybe there is some Abnegation in everyone, even if they don't know it.

Well, in everyone but Peter.

"Thank you," Tris says.

"Well, we would never get there on time if you had to tie them yourself," she says. "Come on. You can eat and walk at the same time, right?"

We walk fast toward the Pit. The muffin is banana-flavored with walnuts, I liked it. We climb the steps from the Pit to the glass building above it and run to the exit. We make it to the tracks just as the train arrives, its horn blaring. "Sorry Tris, this will hurt," she just gave a nod.

"What took you so long?" Will shouts over the horn.

"Stumpy Legs over here turned into an old lady overnight," says Christina.

"Oh, shut up." Tris only sounds as if she is half kidding "Give her a break," I smiled.

Four stands at the front of the pack, so close to the tracks that if he shifted even an inch forward the train would take his nose with it. He steps back to let some of the others get on first. I grip the car door handle and swing in my feet, I land on the ledge with grace, Will hoists himself into the car with some difficulty, landing first on his stomach and then dragging his legs in behind him. Four grabs the handle on the side of the car and pulls himself in smoothly, like he doesn't have more than six feet of body to work with.

Tris jogs next to the car, wincing, she looks to be gritting her teeth and straining against the pain. This is going to hurt to watch, Al grabs her under each arm and lifts her easily into the car. She stiffens in pain, we see Peter behind Al, and my cheeks get warm. Al was trying to be nice so I smile at him but I wish people didn't want to be so nice. As if Peter didn't have enough ammunition already.

"Feeling okay there?" Peter says, giving Tris a look of mock sympathy—his lips turned down, his arched eyebrows pulled in. "Or are you a little…Stiff?"

He bursts into laughter at his joke, and Molly and Drew join in. Molly has an ugly laugh, all snorting and shaking shoulders, and Drew's is silent, so it almost looks like he's in pain.

"We are all awed by your incredible wit," says Will.

"Yeah, are you sure you don't belong with the Erudite, Peter?" Christina adds. "I hear they don't object to sissies."

"I wouldn't give so much credit Christina and Will," I was stand next to Edward and Tris, Peter had it out for me.

Four, standing in the doorway, speaks before Peter can retort. "Am I going to have to listen to your bickering all the way to the fence?"

I turned seeing him eyeing us.

Everyone gets quiet and Four turns back to the car's opening. He holds the handles on either side, his arms stretching wide, and leans forward so his body is mostly outside the car, though his feet stay planted inside. The wind presses his shirt to his chest. I try to look past him at what we're passing—a sea of crumbling, abandoned buildings that get smaller as we go.

Tris asks Christina, "What do you think is out there?" she nods to the doorway. "I mean, beyond the fence."

She shrugs. "A bunch of farms, I guess." "They have farms, I went many, many times," I smiled.

"Yeah, but I mean…past the farms. What are we guarding the city from?"

She wiggles her fingers at me. "Monsters!"

I roll my eyes "Don't worry we will protect you Will," I smiled "I was worried there, for a few moments," Will joked bumping Christina.

"We didn't even have guards near the fence until five years ago," says Will. "Don't you remember when Dauntless police used to patrol the factionless sector?"

"Yes," Tris says.

"Oh, right," he says. "I bet you saw them all the time."

"Why do you say that?" she ask, a little too sharply.

"Because you had to pass the factionless sector to get to school, right?"

"What did you do, memorize a map of the city for fun?" says Christina.

"Yes," says Will, looking puzzled. "Didn't you?"

The train's brakes squeal and we all lurch forward as the car slows. I am grateful for the movement; it makes standing easier. The dilapidated buildings are gone, replaced by yellow fields and train tracks. The train stops under an awning. I lower myself to the grass, holding the handle to keep me steady.

In front of me is a chain-link fence with barbed wire strung along the top. When I walk forward, I notice that it continues farther than I can see, perpendicular to the horizon. Past the fence is a cluster of trees, most of them dead, some green. Milling around on the other side of the fence are Dauntless guards carrying guns.

"Follow me," says Four. Tris stay close to Christina and me.

Four leads us toward the gate, which is as wide as a house and opens up to the cracked road that leads to the city. That road and beyond, to Amity's farms, to my old faction.

"If you don't rank in the top five at the end of initiation, you will probably end up here," says Four as he reaches the gate. "Once you are a fence guard, there is some potential for advancement, but not much. You may be able to go on patrols beyond Amity's farms, but—"

"Patrols for what purpose?" asks Will.

Four lifts a shoulder. "I suppose you'll discover that if you find yourself among them. As I was saying. For the most part, those who guard the fence when they are young continue to guard the fence. If it comforts you, some of them insist that it isn't as bad as it seems."

"Yeah. At least we won't be driving buses or cleaning up other people's messes like the factionless," Christina whispers in my ear.

"What rank were you?" Peter asks Four.

I don't expect Four to answer, but he looks levelly at Peter and says, "I was first."

"And you chose to do this?" Peter's eyes are wide and round and dark green. They would look innocent to me if I didn't know what a terrible person he is. "Why didn't you get a government job?"

"I didn't want one," Four says flatly. I remember what he said on the first day, about working in the control room, where the Dauntless monitor the city's security. It is difficult for me to imagine him there, surrounded by computers. To me he belongs in the training room.

We learned about faction jobs in school. The Dauntless have limited options. We can guard the fence or work for the security of our city. We can work in the Dauntless compound, drawing tattoos or making weapons or even fighting each other for entertainment. Or we can work for the Dauntless leaders. That sounds like my best option.

We stop next to the gate. A few Dauntless guards glance in our direction but not many. They are too busy pulling the doors—which are twice as tall as they are and several times wider—open to admit a truck.

The man driving wears a hat, a beard, and a smile. He stops just inside the gate and gets out. The back of the truck is open, and a few other Amity sit among the stacks of crates. I peer at the crates— they hold apples.

"Beatrice?" an Amity boy says. Another girly voice rings out "Ava,"

We turn to the sounds of our names its Haily and the boy Robert, Christina gives us a look "Eric would kill you both,"

I was talking to Haily when I heard Robert, Haily looked over as well.

"Beatrice?" demands a nasal voice next to me. Molly folds her arms and laughs. "Is that your real name, Stiff?"

I glance at her. "What did you think Tris was short for?" Tris said in a logical tone.

"Oh, I don't know…weakling?" Molly touches her chin. If her chin was bigger, it might balance out her nose, but it is weak and almost recedes into her neck. "Oh wait, that doesn't start with Tris. My mistake."

"Molly,"

She turned looking at me, Christina came up next to us "Next time you won't peal yourself off the floor, I will make you wake up in the ward," I was shorter but I stood toe to toe with her.

"Molly maybe you need Ava to jog your memory, she tore you apart in the arena," Christina mused but Molly just walked off back to Drew.

 **Tris point of view…**

Four steps away from the fence where he was talking to a female Dauntless guard with a gun balanced on her shoulder a moment before. "I am worried that you have a knack for making unwise decisions," he says when he's a foot away from me.

I cross my arms. "It was a two-minute conversation."

"I don't think a smaller time frame makes it any less unwise." He furrows his eyebrows and touches the corner of my bruised eye with his fingertips. My head jerks back, but he doesn't take his hand away. Instead he tilts his head and sighs. "You know, if you could just learn to attack first, you might do better."

"Attack first?" I say. "How will that help?"

"You're fast. If you can get a few good hits in before they know what's going on, you could win."

He shrugs and his hand falls.

"I'm surprised you know that," I say quietly, "since you left halfway through my one and only fight."

"It wasn't something I wanted to watch. You made good friends at least," he says.

What's that supposed to mean?

He clears his throat. "Looks like the next train is here. Time to go, Tris."

 **Ava's point of view…**

I was in the reprieve today, standing with my friends as I usually do, I smiled as Edward bashed Peter even though I wanted that chance. The day passed quickly, I was in the dining hall, Dauntless were definitely thankful, chatter filled the hall.

"This bread is wonderful," Al boosted, I knew I turned down bread from Amity.

Tris leaned over whispering in my ear "Why is Eric staring at you?" I didn't turn to confirm it "See you in a little," I give Tris a little nod," she understands getting up. We can trust each other more than any others.

I did glace up as we passed his table, we are still in training clothes, my back was better with the cream. I was rubbing it on Tris as well. His cold dark eyes glittering in the blue light "You hardly ate," I heard knowing his voice.

"I ate enough, plus nothing sweet was out," I smirked at him as we were walking out Tris was confused but I just pulled her along.

I looked inside the training room "Come on,"

"You need to rank better, and I have no real clue about Eric. When it's him and I he is softer, nicer, if possible. I notice Four always helping or watching you," she just blushed.

"But Four also watches you, so I wouldn't be special," I laughed "Can you keep a secret because right now, it has to be this way like with us being Divergent," the last part was said on a whisper.

"Of course,"

"Four is my brother, we just found out a few days ago," she looked as shocked as I did "Are you okay?"

"I am now, at first I was shocked. I never knew I had family, I was raised in Amity where I was given to Johanna," we talked and trained.

"Four is right attack first, keep tension right here, Peter does have a weak spot every man does. Punch him in the throat, kick in his knee, use your elbow, or knee bring it into his ugly face." We heard the doors open sometime later seeing Four walk in.

"It is lights out,"

"Oh come on Tris, sorry I used all your free time to train you," I laughed but she joined in breathing hard "No, thank you," Four just watched us.

"Go," his voice calm as we walked out heading to bed, after a fast shower I slipped on a T-shirt and underwear nothing more, it was hot after training. I was about to get comfy when I noticed my chest was unlocked, I looked inside to see a box that shouldn't be there. I was confused, only a Dauntless leader had an extra key. I opened the box seeing a slice of chocolate cake with vanilla icing, with an "E" on it in black icing. I took it out before locking my chest. I smiled, I knew Eric wasn't as bad as he made himself see. The cake was mouthwatering, I tossed my trash before falling right to sleep.

"Everybody up!" someone roars. A flashlight shines behind his head, making the rings in his ears glint. Eric. Surrounding him are other Dauntless, some of whom I have seen in the Pit, some of whom I have never seen before. Four stands among them.

At least when I jump from my bunk in only a T-shit I see, Christina stands next to our bunk wearing only a T-shirt, her long legs bare. She folds her arms and stares at Eric.

"You have five minutes to get dressed and meet us by the tracks," says Eric. "We're going on another field trip." His eyes linger on my bare legs before he turns and departs with the other older dauntless.

I was dressed first, pulling my hair back. I was angry and tired, I needed sleep.

A drop of sweat rolls down the back of my neck as we run up the paths along the walls of the Pit, pushing past members on our way up. They don't seem surprised to see us. I wonder how many frantic, running people they see on a weekly basis.

We make it to the tracks just behind the Dauntless-born initiates. Next to the tracks is a black pile. I make out a cluster of long gun barrels and trigger guards.

"Are we going to shoot something?" Christina hisses in my ear.

Next to the pile are boxes of what looks like ammunition. I inch closer to read one of the boxes.

Written on it is "Darts."

I've never heard of them before, but the name is self-explanatory. I laugh.

"Everyone grab a gun!" shouts Eric.

We rush toward the pile. I am the closest to it so I snatch the first gun I can find, it isn't very heavy, then grab a box of darts. I shove the box in my pocket and sling the gun across my back so the strap crosses my chest.

"Time estimate?" Eric asks Four.

Four checks his watch. "Any minute now. How long is it going to take you to memorize the train schedule?"

"Why should I when I have you to remind me of it?" says Eric, shoving Four's shoulder.

A circle of light appears on my left, far away. It grows larger as it comes closer, shining against the side of Four's face, creating a shadow in the faint hollow beneath his cheekbone.

He is the first to get on the train and I run after him, not waiting for Christina or Will or Al or Tris to follow me. Eric, maybe without thought or to anger Four, picks me up setting me in the car "You look tired, maybe too much chocolate," he whispered.

"Never enough," I smiled back as Four came over pulling me to Tris who was now on the train.

Once everyone is in Four speaks up.

"We'll be dividing into two teams to play capture the flag. Each team will have an even mix of members, Dauntless-born initiates and transfers. One team will get off first and find a place to hide their flag. Then the second team will get off and do the same." The car sways and Four grabs the side of the doorway for balance. "This is a Dauntless tradition, so I suggest you take it seriously."

"What do we get if we win?" someone shouts.

"Sounds like the kind of question someone not from Dauntless would ask," says Four, raising an eyebrow. "You get to win, of course."

"Darts, not much of anything," Molly smiled but Eric let one out, it hit her in the leg, she slid down the wall "It feels like an actual gun shot," he grinned.

"Four and I will be your team captains," says Eric. He looks at Four. "Let's divide up transfers first, shall we?"

"You go first," Eric says.

"I want the Stiff and the Softie," Four says.

Four leans against the door frame and nods. The moonlight makes his eyes bright.

A faint undercurrent of laughter fills the car. Heat rushes into my cheeks. I don't know whether to be angry at the people laughing at me or flattered by the fact that he chose me and Tris first, or was it so Eric couldn't?

"Got something to prove?" asks Eric, with his trademark smirk. "Or are you just picking the weak ones so that if you lose, you'll have someone to blame it on?" I wasn't weak, I was ranked, first anger shot through me.

Four shrugs. "Something like that."

"Your turn," says Four.

"Peter."

"Christina."

That throws a wrench in his strategy. Christina is not one of the weak ones. What exactly is he doing?

"Molly." Eric went on.

"Will," says Four, biting his thumbnail.

"Al."

"Drew." I didn't want him on my team.

If Four isn't trying to prove something by choosing the weak, what is he doing? I look at each person he chooses. What do we have in common?

Once they're halfway through the Dauntless-born initiates, I have an idea of what it is. With the exception of Will and a couple of the others, we all share the same body type: narrow shoulders, small frames. All the people on Eric's team are broad and strong. Just yesterday, Four told me Tris she fast.

We will all be faster than Eric's team, which will probably be good for capture the flag—I haven't played before but I know it's a game of speed rather than brute force. I cover a smile with my hand.

Eric is more ruthless than Four but Four is smarter.

They finish choosing teams and Eric smirks at Four.

"Your team can get off second," says Eric.

"Don't do me any favors," Four replies. He smiles a little. "You know I don't need them to win."

"No, I know that you'll lose no matter when you get off," says Eric, biting down briefly on one of the rings in his lip. "Take your scrawny team and get off first, then." But his eyes flicker to mine, I narrow mine looking away, he makes a move forward but Four blocks it.

I watch as the train starts to dip we start jumping, I land on my feet, and Tris is right behind me. One of the Dauntless-born initiates touches Four's shoulder and asks, "When your team won where did you put the flag?"

"Telling you wouldn't really be in the spirit of the exercise, Marlene," he says coolly.

"Come on, Four," she whines. She gives him a flirtatious smile. He brushes her hand off his arm and for some reason I see Tris grinning from ear to ear.

We gather in a circle Four is talking but Christina and Will bicker back and forth everyone joining in. Tris and I walk away our lights off, we need a better view so we are heading to the Ferris wheel. "Ready?' I just smile as we start to climb.

 **Thanks for reading, Ava will be more different as time goes on more so in chapters nine and up.**


	6. One Choice 6

**Thanks for reading One Choice! Please review. I own nothing and no money is being made from this story. So on to the story… Chapter 6 and 7 are being up loaded tonight…**

The Ferris wheel isn't in great shape but we decide on going up anyway but then we hear a male voice "What are you two doing?"

"Getting a better view?" Tris said looking down over her shoulder I was in front of her so I kept going further up. "Good idea," I hear him.

"Come on you two," when I see a bar came off Tris slipping but Four was there holding her, she started climbing again. But Four stopped "Come on Four," we are high but we needed to see the entire park, the flag glowed like a beacon.

"Are you scared of heights?" I asked "Everyone is scared of something," he muttered moving up, Tris and I started moving through the thick metal crisscrossed tubes of the Ferris wheel, going as high as we dared.

"See this isn't so bad," Tris said as Four stood hanging on, he gazed out taking in the view "Yeah,"

"Look," I point across the park in a clock tower clear across the park was a green flag glowing high up "Brilliant," Four smiled as we descended down he was more careful than me, I was going faster.

We merged with our team "Tris and Ava found their flag, we will divide into two groups, we are faster than them, once they are hit they are out," we moved in the dart gun's out.

We met no resistance on our way, we moved in with a slow pace, being smart. They may have set traps, Eric was an Erudite. Four took two flares, setting them off tossing them in a wide arch into the compound. Gun fire went off, we took cover. I watched as Eric's team came from the shadows, they just were waiting for the time to use force.

The flares are our only light, I shoot taking out Al "Sorry, big guy," I mutter passing him going low, my eyes darting around. Eric and Four are shooting at each other I creep up behind him, I aim and manage on taking out Eric, the dart is embedded in his shoulder he falls to the ground.

"I am not weak or scrawny," I shot him a second time as I passed by heading towards Tris and Christina, we make our way up the winding staircase. "We shot Peter," they smiled "I shot, Al and Eric," I felt bad for Al though.

At the top was a small door Tris was the first up Molly was waiting, darts flew. I slammed her temple with the butt of my gun, she was out cold giving us the chance we needed. We took the flag together, taking the credit as one.

We waved the green glowing material in the air hearing scream's and groans "Someone better come help Molly," I called out as Eric ordered two Dauntless born up, we walked out with them supporting her weight between them, she was coming to.

We walked heading back to the trains a boy Dauntless born, his name is Uriah, and he's funny and pretty nice. He comes up to Tris and I, Christina is chatting with Will "Come on, you both have to zip line,"

Tris agreed but I was pulled away by Christina "Next time, we need her!" I waved Tris off "Have fun," I was jealous she got to go try zip lining while I had to go back to Dauntless. I pouted but followed Christina.

I jumped on the train seeing everyone sitting, Eric was standing with Four looking sour "Good job Four," but the words were forced and lacking.

I am too tired so I sit with my friend "I am really sorry for shooting you Al," I smile at him but he laughs "It's nothing," I know he has a thing for Tris, we all know.

It is two in the morning when I walk back into Dauntless, I fall right to sleep. Tris was happy when I arrived. I wish I had rode the zip line but next time Uriah said I was coming.

The next morning we dress for training, when I trudge into the training room, yawning, a large target stands at one end of the room, and next to the door is a table with knives strewn across it. Target practice again. At least it won't hurt.

Eric stands in the middle of the room, his posture so rigid it looks like someone replaced his spine with a metal rod. The sight of him makes me feel like all the air in the room is heavier, bearing down on me. At least when he was slouched against a wall, I could pretend he wasn't here. Today I can't pretend.

"Tomorrow will be the last day of stage one," Eric says. "You will resume fighting then. Today, you'll be learning how to aim. Everyone pick up three knives." His voice is deeper than usual. "And pay attention while Four demonstrates the correct technique for throwing them."

At first no one moves.

"Now!"

We scramble for daggers. They aren't as heavy as guns.

"He's in a bad mood today," mumbles Christina.

"Is he ever in a good mood?" Tris murmured back.

"Well this one night we went to Amity he was," I answered.

But I know what she means. Judging by the poisonous look Eric gives Four when he isn't paying attention, last night's loss must have bothered Eric more than he let on. Winning capture the flag is a matter of pride and pride is important to the Dauntless. More important than reason or sense. Was he mad I shot him? Did he hate me now?

I watch Four's arm as he throws a knife. The next time he throws, I watch his stance. He hits the target each time, exhaling as he releases the knife.

Eric orders, "Line up!"

I have to think of this as a mental exercise not a physical exercise. So I spend the first few minutes practicing without a knife, finding the right stance, learning the right arm motion.

Eric paces too quickly behind us.

I flick it, the knife flies from my hand, the slight flick in my wrist was the perfect speed, and it hit the target dead center.

Tris's doesn't stick but she does hit the target but Peter misses "Hey, Peter," We hear Tris say. "Remember what a target is?"

Next to me, Christina snorts, and her next knife hits the target.

A half hour later, Al is the only initiate who hasn't hit the target yet. His knives clatter to the floor, or bounce off the wall. While the rest of us approach the board to collect our weapons, he hunts the floor for his.

The next time he tries and misses, Eric marches toward him and demands, "How slow are you, Candor? Do you need glasses? Should I move the target closer to you?"

Why must Eric be so cruel? I sigh.

Al's face turns red. He throws another knife, and this one sails a few feet to the right of the target. It spins and hits the wall.

"What was that, initiate?" says Eric quietly, leaning closer to Al.

I bite my lip. This isn't good.

"It—it slipped," says Al.

"Well, I think you should go get it," Eric says. He scans the other initiates' faces—everyone has stopped throwing again—and says, "Did I tell you to stop?"

Knives start to hit the board. We have all seen Eric angry before, but this is different. The look in his eyes is almost rabid.

"Go get it?" Al's eyes are wide. "But everyone's still throwing."

"And?"

"And I don't want to get hit."

"I think you can trust your fellow initiates to aim better than you." Eric smiles a little, but his eyes stay cruel. "Go get your knife."

Al doesn't usually object to anything the Dauntless tell us to do. I don't think he's afraid to; he just knows that objecting is useless. This time Al sets his wide jaw. He's reached the limits of his compliance.

"No," he says.

"Why not?" Eric's beady eyes fix on Al's face. "Are you afraid?"

"Of getting stabbed by an airborne knife?" says Al. "Yes, I am!"

Honesty is his mistake. Not his refusal, which Eric might have accepted.

"Everyone stop!" Eric shouts.

The knives stop, and so does all conversation. I hold my small dagger tightly.

"Clear out of the ring." Eric looks at Al. "All except you."

I drop the dagger and it hits the dusty floor with a thud. I follow the other initiates to the edge of the room, and they inch in front of me, eager to see what makes my stomach turn: Al facing Eric's wrath.

"Stand in front of the target," says Eric.

Al's big hands shake. He walks back to the target.

"Hey, Four." Eric looks over his shoulder. "Give me a hand here, huh?"

Four scratches one of his eyebrows with a knife point and approaches Eric. He has dark circles under his eyes and a tense set to his mouth—he's as tired as we are.

"You're going to stand there as he throws those knives," Eric says to Al, "until you learn not to flinch."

"Is this really necessary?" says Four. He sounds bored but he doesn't look bored. His face and body are tense, alert.

I squeeze my hands into fists. No matter how casual Four sounds, the question is a challenge. And Four doesn't often challenge Eric directly.

At first Eric stares at Four in silence. Four stares back. Seconds pass and my fingernails bite my palms.

"I have the authority here, remember?" Eric says, so quietly I can barely hear him. "Here, and everywhere else."

"Does it make you feel better to say that Eric, I mean anyone can tell you have been dying to say that to Four. But question is are you only a Dauntless leader because of Four's refusal of the position offered two years ago, around the time you got it," I would stand up for my brother, my brother…it rolled off my tongue so easy.

Sometimes you have to know when to hold your tongue, Eric was standing in front of me before I blinked "I like your fire, but it's a little out of control," his hand made a loud crack the sound hit me before I felt the pain of his hit.

I was on the floor "Do it again," I spat standing up to Eric the room was silent Four came forward. "We don't hit women, or real men don't,"

"Edward take Ava to cool down," Four says but my eyes are on Eric when I am being taken out.

Then everything goes back to normal Al is going to get daggers thrown at his head, because Eric has to show off.

"Any idiot can stand in front of a target," I hear Tris say as I am escorted out "It doesn't prove anything except that you're bullying us. Which, as I recall, is a sign of cowardice."

"Then it should be easy for you," Eric says. "If you're willing to take his place." I am fighting in Edwards arms now.

"No Eric will kill you," he mutters carrying me now.

I was left in the dorm, fuming when they all came back in my face was black and blue "You are going to get yourself killed," Christina said her hands making wild motions.

"He makes me so mad," I rub cream on it and on Tris's ear before we head to dinner.

Eric watches me the whole time and I act like I just don't know, until he corners me after. "You can't have that, I have let it go until now. Max noticed it," I turned seeing Eric leaning on the stone wall.

"Noticed what Eric, obviously not your charming personally."

"Your necklace Ava, hand it over," I should have known this would have happened I take the silver Amity necklace from my neck holding it for a moment before handing it over, he stands in front of me now.

"I am sorry, I don't like being talked down to. Especially in front of anyone, please don't think I would hit you," his eyes still cold, like they have always been that way.

"I have no idea what you are capable of Eric, I see you can be sweet but also so cruel. You scare me, but you also see I can't back down from you,"

"I like that about you, there is so much I like about you," when he talked it was like he had to search his mind for words, they didn't come natural or easy, these feelings whatever they maybe are new to him.

My back was against the wall now he was taller, bigger by far, his hands press against the cold stone wall between them was my head he looked down at me. Then I felt his still warm hand on my face his thumb trailing over my chin tilting my face up, his face came down his lips touched my forehead, temple, cheek then my lips, it was a new feeling. His lips are warm even with the cold steel rings I wrapped my arms around his thick neck, trying to lift myself up. His lips molded to mine his tongue brushed against mine, this kiss was new, his tongue slid along mine battling for dominance.

Laughing could be heard as we pulled away from each other, I was the one who moved away, he looked down the hall once his attention was off me I disappeared into the dining hall blending in with the Dauntless.

I walked back to the dorm with Christina, Will, Al, Edward, and Tris. A note was on my bed only Tris saw it she looked scared and I kind of was too, I locked it away.

" _ **You're mine –Eric"**_

Sleep wasn't easy even with my hand firmly in Tris's.

I was up early to talk to Four but Eric and Lauren are there so I grab a few Muffins trying to blend in with Uriah "I have to ride the zip line," I demanded, he smiles, Lynn and Marlene do too.

"Soon," I just head to the training room seeing a very pale and upset Tris who I hand a muffin to, she eats it "What happened, don't lie." I start in we trust each other more than anyone.

She told me about Molly, Drew, and Peter cornering her in the dorm taking her towel, it made me see red, she was against Molly. I had Al, I walked up to the bored erasing my name Peter had Christina, so I put her with AL and myself with Peter, walking back Four and Eric saw this but said nothing. Four was talking to Tris.

"You wanted him you got him, Ava you're up," I walked up, Tris was fighting last, Peter smiled in the arena.

Edward was the only one to beat Peter but I wasn't going to lose to this weak bully, I was going to show him a thing or two about messing with Tris.

My hands up as are his "Show me what you got, baby," he smiled Eric walked closer to the ring, Four had a look of concern.

"Come on Peter, corner me in a room alone and rip my towel off. You weak pathetic fool," I smiled he punched in anger but he missed I grabbed his arm as it sailed by my face bring my knee into his gut, he bent over groaning. Bringing his arm back, until his scream filled the room I let go kicking him to the side "Get up Peter, we aren't done, I am tired of you. You are a bully, a weak, pathetic bully."

He was on his feet, he could pack a punch, my side hurt, but I was fast moving under his arm wrapping my arm around his neck, bring my knee up ramming it with as much force as I could into his back, then my the heel of my foot to his knee. He was on the floor moving away, I held my side "Ava, victory," Four called as Drew helped Peter from the arena, Christina and Tris helped me but I would recover, it was fine.

"Wipe the floor with her," I said to Tris.

Molly starts toward her and throws her weight into a punch. As her body shifts forward, Tris's ducks and drives her fist into her stomach, right over her bellybutton. Before she can get her hands on her, she slipped past her, her hands up, ready for her next attempt.

She's not smirking anymore. She runs at Tris like she's about to tackle her, but Tris darts out of the way.

Tris blocked her next punch with her forearm. The blows must sting but she barley looks notice it. She grits her teeth and lets out a frustrated groan, more animal-sounding than human. She tries a sloppy kick at her side, which Tris dodged, and while her balance is off, we watch Tris rush forward and force my elbow up at her face. She pulls her head back just in time, and her elbow grazes her chin.

She punches her in the ribs and she stumbles to the side, recovering her breath. There's something she's not protecting, I know it, her face, but maybe that's not a smart move. I watch her for a few seconds. Her hands are too high; they guard her nose and cheeks, leaving her stomach and ribs exposed. Molly and I have the same flaw in combat.

Our eyes meet for just a second.

Tris aims an uppercut low, below her bellybutton. Her fist sinks into her flesh, forcing a heavy breath from her mouth. As she gasps, Tris sweep-kicks her legs out from under her, and she falls hard on the ground, sending dust into the air. Tris pulled her foot back and kick as hard as she can at her ribs.

She curls into a ball to protect her side but she kicks again, this time hitting her in the stomach. Like a child. She kicked again, this time hitting her in the face. Blood springs from her nose and spreads over her Tris shouldn't do it like this

"You won," Four mutters. "Stop."

Tris wipes the sweat from her forehead. He stares at her. His eyes are too wide; they look alarmed.

"I think you should leave," he says. "Take a walk."

"I'm fine," she say. "I'm fine now," she said again, this time for herself.

"Take a walk Tris, you took it too far," I chimed in her eyes meet mine you could see the guilt, she wouldn't have stopped if Four wouldn't have said to, her shoulders fall as she stands with me, we walk off together.

"I understand Tris, but there is a fine line you can't cross. I would have liked to do more to Peter, but I know that line,"

"I want to hurt her," I smiled "I could see that." I say.

"Come on, we need food," Christina grabbed our hands, I was starving, my body now lean muscle.

Tomorrow was all anyone was talking about, Visiting day, where parents show up or not. I wasn't sure Johanna would with it being Dauntless and all. But I had Four here, he was my family.

"I need a shower, see you," I muttered "I will be right behind you," Tris muttered eating a little faster she didn't want to shower alone now. I was going to turn in early as I stripped off my clothes to be washed and returned, my clean ones ready. The warm water a welcome feeling when noise was heard "It's just me Ava,' I sighed Tris was in her towel.

"Careful, I thought it was Peter, I was going to kill him." A nice laugh echoed as we showered, Molly and Christina coming in she was battered but it was her own fault.

"Come on Christina, save some water for us," Will, Al, and Edward were coming in I grabbed my towel like Tris covering up, Christina just rinsed off but when Drew and Peter came in Christina wrapped herself up, we three walked out.

I was in my bunk talking with the girls, when lights out are called by Max.

My eyes open, my heart leaps with the hope Johanna has come, I jump up from my bed in my T-shirt. Everyone else dresses in silence. Not even Christina smiles. We all know that we might go to the Pit floor and search every face and never find one that belongs to us. I purchased a nice black dress and sandals for this day, I hardly used my credits so it wasn't a big deal. My long hair down as Christina lines my eyes with black and uses mascara to make my lashes longer and fuller looking, the dress was a black strap embroidery matched with black gladiator sandals that went up my legs, my dress was shorter than what I was use to.

I make my bed with the tight corners like my mother taught me. As I pinch a stray hair from my pillow Eric walks in.

"Attention!" he announces, flicking a lock of dark hair from his eyes. "I want to give you some advice about today. If by some miracle your families do come to visit you…" He scans our faces and smirks. "…which I doubt, it is best not to seem too attached. That will make it easier for you, and easier for them. We also take the phrase 'faction before blood' very seriously here. Attachment to your family suggests you aren't entirely pleased with your faction, which would be shameful. Understand?"

I understand. I hear the threat in Eric's sharp voice. The only part of that speech that Eric meant was the last part: We are Dauntless, and we need to act accordingly.

On my way out of the dormitory, Eric stops me. "Try and control yourself Ava. You look gorgeous,"

"Thank you Eric," his fingertips brush my jaw for a second before anyone can see "Come on Ava," Tris says in her black dress.

"Coming,"

She is trying to smooth her hair into a bun, checking her clothes "Calm down Tris, they can approve or not," I take her hand into mine, a small form of comfort.

Clusters of families stand on the Pit floor, most of them Dauntless families with Dauntless initiates. They still look strange to me—a mother with a pierced eyebrow, a father with a tattooed arm, an initiate with purple hair, a wholesome family unit. I spot Drew and Molly standing alone at one end of the room and suppress a smile. At least their families didn't come.

But Peter's did. He stands next to a tall man with bushy eyebrows and a short, meek-looking woman with red hair. Neither of his parents looks like him. They both wear black pants and white shirts, typical Candor outfits, and his father speaks so loudly I can almost hear him from where I stand. Do they know what kind of person their son is?

Then again…what kind of person am I?

Across the room, Will stands with a woman in a blue dress. She doesn't look old enough to be his mother, but she has the same crease between her eyebrows as he does, and the same golden hair. He talked about having a sister once; maybe that's her.

Next to him Christina hugs a dark-skinned woman in Candor black and white. Standing behind Christina is a young girl, also a Candor. Her younger sister.

"Tris look," I grin pointing her mother stands alone near the railing with her hands clasped in front of her. She has never looked more out of place, with her gray slacks and gray jacket buttoned at the throat, her hair in its simple twist and her face placid.

I watch as Tris walks faster and faster her mother takes a minute then her eyes light up, and she opens her arms. I can tell her mother says her name, my eyes shine they walk and talk.

I don't see any bright colors so I walk around watching others when I hear a voice "Did you think I wouldn't come child?" it was Johanna.

I spun, a smile lighting up my face "I missed you," my arms around her even with Eric's warning ringing in my ears.

"You look grown my child, how are things here?"

"Things are well, I seem to be doing well mother," it was small talk like she knew we aren't to be showing much affection.

"How is Amity?" we talk for as long as possible "Peaceful," she smiled when we walked into Tris.

"Hello Tris, Mrs. Prior," I nodded my head. "Mother, this is my best friend Ava Eaton," I smiled as Mrs. Prior held her hand out for me to shake, it was nice and firm.

"This is my mother the leader of Amity, Johanna Reyes,"

"Hello, Natalie." Johanna smiled "Johanna," Natalie smiled they talked for a few minutes alone, while Tris and I talked.

Standing alone at the railing is Four.

"There's one of my instructors." Tris leans closer to her mom and says, "He's kind of intimidating."

"He's handsome," Natalie says.

I found Tris nodding to herself nodding without thinking. She laughs and lifts her arm from Tris shoulders. But mother Johnna wants to go as well, so we follow, it seems like Tris doesn't want her mom near Four either.

His eyes widen at the sight of our mother. They offer him their hands by way of greeting.

"Hello. My name is Natalie," she says. "I'm Beatrice's mother."

"Hello, I am Johanna." Mother says "I am Ava's adoptive mother,"

Four eases his hand into hers, looking stiff, and shakes it twice. The gesture looks unnatural for both of them. No, Four was not originally Dauntless if he doesn't shake hands easily.

"Four," he says. "It's nice to meet you."

"Four," my mother repeats, smiling. "Is that a nickname?"

"Yes." He doesn't elaborate. What is his real name? "Your daughter is doing well here. I've been overseeing her training. Natalie. Well, Ava seems to be a natural at everything, she is ranked number one, Johanna,"

"That's good to hear," mother says. "I know a few things about Dauntless initiation and I was worried about her." Tris mother says, I was perplexed how did she know?

He looks at Tris, and his eyes move down her face, from nose to mouth to chin. Then he says, "You shouldn't worry." He has a crush, you could see it, or was it just me who could read him?

Mrs. Prior tilts her head. "You look familiar for some reason, Four." Then she looks at Ava then back again "You as well Ava,"

"I can't imagine why," he replies, his voice suddenly cold. "I don't make a habit of associating with the Abnegation. Ava you should go,"

My mother laughs. She has a light laugh, half air and half sound. "Few people do, these days. I don't take it personally."

"Four she meant no harm, we look similar, I am just much prettier," I smiled, he seems to relax a little. "Well, I'll leave you to your reunion."

My mother and I watch him leave. The roar of the river fills my ears.

We leave Mrs. Prior and Tris to their visit, walking the stone halls "I am happy you are doing well here, my child. Your brother seems to be protective," I sighed.

"When he can be," the chasm was spraying us now.

"Hello ladies, I hope you are enjoying your visit, time is running short Ava." It was Max "Dauntless would like to again thank Amity for the help they have given us,"

"The pleasure is ours,"

Max walked away watching the people milling around but not saying another word "Pleasant man,"

"I guess mother, I really only have to deal with Four and Eric,"

"Yes the man who brought you to Amity," her eyes lingering on mine.

"Yes, he is one of the five Dauntless leaders."

"I am, the youngest too." I turned seeing Eric dressed in all black watching us from above the chasm, he wasn't there a moment ago when Max walked away, but there he was playing with his dagger.

"An impressive feat for a man so young," mother smiled "I thought so," he smiled back.

"Hi Ava," he winked "Hello Eric," I nodded "Come mother we should move on from here, your clothes are getting wet," I just needed her away from Eric and his watchful eyes.

"I must head back now, come," she was hugging me before she was leaving with Mrs. Prior so I ran to find Tris, who was leaving the dorm.

"I had to tell my mother,"

"Alright, what did she say?" I asked her, she explains she thinks we are being watched and the next stage will be the hardest. How Tris needs to go to Erudite to see Caleb about the simulation Serum.

"Okay Tris, we will deal with this together,"

At dinner we sit with Christina, Will, and Al at a table in the corner. We are uncomfortably close to Peter, Drew, and Molly, who are at the next table over. When conversation at our table reaches a lull, I hear every word they say. They are speculating about the ranks. What a surprise.

"You weren't allowed to have pets?" Christina demands, smacking the table with her palm. "Why not?"

"Because they're illogical," Will says matter-of-factly. "What is the point in providing food and shelter for an animal that just soils your furniture, makes your home smell bad, and ultimately dies?"

"The point is…" Christina's voice trails off, and she tilts her head. "Well, they're fun to have. I had a bulldog named Chunker. One time we left a whole roasted chicken on the counter to cool and while my mother went to the bathroom he pulled it down off the counter and ate it, bones and skin and all. We laughed so hard."

"Yes, that certainly changes my mind. Of course I want to live with an animal that eats all my food and destroys my kitchen." Will shakes his head. "Why don't you just get a dog after initiation if you're feeling that nostalgic?"

"Because." Christina's smile falls, and she pokes at her potato with her fork. "Dogs are sort of ruined for me. After…you know, after the aptitude test."

We exchange looks. We all know that we aren't supposed to talk about the test, not even now that we have chosen, but for them that rule must not be as serious as it is for me. My heart jumps unsteadily in my chest. For me that rule is protection. It keeps me from having to lie to my friends about my results. Every time I think the word "Divergent," I hear Tori's warning.

"You mean…killing the dog, right?" asks Will.

I almost forgot. Those with an aptitude for Dauntless picked up the knife in the simulation and stabbed the dog when it attacked. No wonder Christina doesn't want a pet dog anymore. I tug my sleeves over my wrists and twist my fingers together.

Yeah," she says. "I mean, you guys all had to do that too, right?"

She looks first at Al, and then at me. Her dark eyes narrow, and she says, "You didn't."

"Hmm?"

"You're hiding something," she says. "You're fidgeting."

"What?"

"In Candor," says Al, nudging me with his shoulder. "We learn to read body language so we know when someone is lying or keeping something from us."

"Oh." I scratch the back of my neck. "Well…"

"See, there it is again!" she says, pointing at my hand.

I feel like I'm swallowing my heartbeat. How can I lie about my results if they can tell when I'm lying? I'll have to control my body language. I drop my hand and clasp my hands in my lap. Is that what an honest person does?

I don't have to lie about the dog, at least. "No, I didn't kill the dog."

"How did you get Dauntless without using the knife?" says Will, narrowing his eyes at me.

I look him in the eye and say evenly, "I didn't. I got Erudite."

It is half-true. Tori reported my result as Erudite, so that is what is in the system. Anyone who has access to the scores would be able to see it. I keep my eyes on his for a few seconds. Shifting them away might be suspicious. Then I shrug and stab a piece of meat with my fork. I hope they believe me.

They have to believe me.

"But you chose Dauntless anyway?" Christina says. "Why?"

"Oh no reason, I didn't want to be with Erudite. No offense and all," I muttered.

After dinner we go back to the dormitory, and it's hard for me not to sprint, knowing that the rankings will be up when I get there. I want to get it over with. At the door to the dormitory, Drew shoves Tris into the wall to get past her. Her shoulder scrapes on the stone, but I keep walking. I'm too short to see over the crowd of initiates standing near the back of the room but when I find a space between heads to look through I see that the blackboard is on the ground, leaning against Four's legs, facing away from us. He stands with a piece of chalk in one hand.

"For those of you who just came in, I'm explaining how the ranks are determined," he says. "After the first round of fights, we ranked you according to your skill level. The number of points you earn depends on your skill level and the skill level of the person you beat. You earn more points for improving and more points for beating someone of a high skill level. I don't reward preying on the weak. That is cowardice." I smiled at Drew, Molly, and Peter.

I think his eyes linger on Peter at that last line, but they move on quickly enough that I'm not sure.

"If you have a high rank you lose points for losing to a low-ranked opponent."

Molly lets out an unpleasant noise, like a snort or a grumble.

"Stage two of training is weighted more heavily than stage one because it is more closely tied to overcoming cowardice," he says. "That said, it is extremely difficult to rank high at the end of initiation if you rank low in stage two."

I shift from one foot to the other, trying to get a good look at him. When I finally do, I look away.

His eyes are already on me, probably drawn by my nervous movement.

"We will announce the cuts tomorrow," Four says. "The fact that you are transfers and the Dauntless-born initiates are not will not be taken into consideration. Four of you could be factionless and none of them. Or four of them could be factionless and none of you. Or any combination thereof. That said, here are your ranks."

He hangs the board on the hook and steps back so we can see the rankings:

1\. Ava

2\. Edward

3\. Peter

4\. Will

5\. Christina

6\. Tris

"Me? 6th?" Tris whispers to me, her voice barely audible. "How is that possible? Did beating Molly push me up that far?" I gave her a smile as we continued to look at the list of initiates.

7\. Molly

8\. Al

9\. Drew

Al isn't dead last, but unless the Dauntless-born initiates completely failed their version of stage one of initiation, he is factionless.

I glance at Christina. She tilts her head and frowns at the board. She isn't the only one. The quiet in the room is uneasy, like it is rocking back and forth on a ledge.

Then it falls.

"What?" demands Molly, she points at Christina. "I beat her! I beat her in minutes, and she's ranked above me?"

"Yeah," says Christina, crossing her arms. She wears a smug smile. "And?"

"If you intend to secure yourself a high rank, I suggest you don't make a habit of losing to low- ranked opponents," says Four, his voice cutting through the mutters and grumbles of the other initiates. He pockets the chalk and walks past us without glancing in Tris' direction.

Apparently they remind Molly, too.

"You," she says, focusing her narrowed eyes on Tris. "You are going to pay for this."

"Try it and you won't make it out of here alive," I said from next to Tris, she may not ask for it but she needed back up, we all did. Peter didn't say anything when the rankings went up, which, given his tendency to complain about anything that doesn't go his way, is surprising. He just walks to his bunk and sits down, untying his shoelaces. That makes me feel even more uneasy. He can't possibly be satisfied with third place.

Not Peter.

"Look at you, number one," Will slapped my back as Christina was hugging Tris who was number six.

"Yeah now I just have to keep that rank," I smiled.

Sleep was troubling me, you can tell I am awake, I have a thousand questions and she left before I could ask any of them. Now they swirl in my head, and I doubt I'll be able to sleep until I can answer them.

I hear a scuffle across the room and lift my head from the pillow. My eyes aren't adjusted to the dark, so I stare into pure black, like the backs of my eyelids. I hear shuffling and the squeak of a shoe.

A heavy thud.

And then a wail that curdles my blood and makes my hair stand on end. I throw the blankets back and stand on the stone floor with bare feet. I still can't see well enough to find the source of the scream, but I see a dark lump on the floor a few bunks down. Another scream pierces my ears.

"Turn on the lights!" someone shouts, its Tris.

I walk toward the sound, slowly so I don't trip over anything. I feel like I'm in a trance. I don't want to see where the screaming is coming from. A scream like that can only mean blood and bone and pain; that scream that comes from the pit of the stomach and extends to every inch of the body.

The lights come on.

Edward lies on the floor next to his bed, clutching at his face. Surrounding his head is a halo of blood, and jutting between his clawing fingers is a silver knife handle. My heart thumping in my ears, I recognize it as a butter knife from the dining hall. The blade is stuck in Edward's eye.

Christina, who stands at Edward's feet, screams. Someone else screams too, and someone yells for help, and Edward is still on the floor, writhing and wailing. I crouch by his head, my knees pressing to the pool of blood, and put my hands on his shoulders.

"Lie still," I say. I feel calm, though I can't hear anything, like my head is submerged in water. Edward thrashes again and I say it louder, sterner. "I said, lie still. Breathe."

"My eye!" he screams.

I smell something foul. Someone vomited.

"Take it out!" he yells. "Get it out, get it out of me get it out!"

I shake my head and then realize that he can't see me. A laugh bubbles in my stomach. Hysterical. I have to suppress hysteria if I'm going to help him. I have to forget myself.

"No," I say. "You have to let the doctor take it out. Hear me? Let the doctor take it out. And breathe."

"It hurts," he sobs.

"I know it does." Instead of my voice I hear my mother's voice. I see her crouching before me ground in the maze when I fell, I was five, I went too high she asked me not to, when I fell a branch gouged my thigh sticking there.

"It will be all right." Tris tries to sound firm, like she is not idly reassuring him, but she is. I don't know if it will be all right. I suspect that it won't.

When the nurse arrives, she tells me to step back, and we all do. My hands and knees are soaked with blood. When I look around, I see that only two faces are missing.

Drew. And Peter.

After they take Edward away, Tris and I carry a change of clothes into the bathroom and wash my hands.

Christina comes with us and stands by the door, but she doesn't say anything, and I'm glad. There isn't much to say.

I scrub at the lines in my palms and run one fingernail under my other fingernails to get the blood out. I change into the pants I brought and throw the soiled ones in the trash. I get as many paper towels as I can hold. Someone needs to clean up the mess in the dormitory, and since I doubt I'll ever be able to sleep again, it might as well be me.

As I reach for the door handle, Christina says, "You know who did that, right?"

"Yeah."

"Should we tell someone?"

"You really think the Dauntless will do anything?" I say. "After they hung you over the chasm? After they made us beat each other unconscious?"

She doesn't say anything.

For a half hour after that, I kneel alone with Tris on the floor in the dormitory and scrub at Edwards's blood.

No one sleeps much that night.

"This is going to sound weird," Will says, "but I wish we didn't have a day off today."

I nod. I know what he means. Having something to do would distract me, and I could use a distraction right now.

I have not spent much time alone with Will, but Christina, Tris and Al are taking naps in the dormitory, and neither of us wanted to be in that room longer than we had to. Will didn't tell me that; I just know.

I slide one fingernail under another. I washed my hands thoroughly after cleaning up Edward's blood, but I still feel like it's on my hands. Will and I walk with no sense of purpose. There is nowhere to go.

"We could visit him," suggests Will. "But what would we say? 'I didn't know you that well, but I'm sorry you got stabbed in the eye'?"

It isn't funny. I know that as soon as he says it, but a laugh rises in my throat anyway, and I let it out because it's harder to keep it in. Will stares at me for a second, and then he laughs too. Sometimes crying or laughing are the only options left, and laughing feels better right now.

"Sorry," I say. "It's just so ridiculous."

I don't want to cry for Edward—at least not in the deep, personal way that you cry for a friend or loved one. I want to cry because something terrible happened, and I saw it, and I could not see a way to mend it.

I say, more seriously, "The most ridiculous part is, in any other faction it would be brave of us to tell someone what happened. But here…in Dauntless…bravery won't do us any good."

"Have you ever read the faction manifestos?" says Will.

The faction manifestos were written after the factions formed. We learned about them in school, but I never read them.

"You have?" I frown at him. Then I remember that Will once memorized a map of the city for fun, and I say, "Oh. Of course you have. Never mind."

"One of the lines I remember from the Dauntless manifesto is, 'we believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.' "

Will sighs.

He doesn't need to say anything else. I know what he means. Maybe Dauntless was formed with good intentions, with the right ideals and the right goals. But it has strayed far from them. And the same is true of Erudite, I realize. A long time ago, Erudite pursued knowledge and ingenuity for the sake of doing well. Now they pursue knowledge and ingenuity with greedy hearts. I wonder if the other factions suffer from the same problem. I have not thought about it before. Despite the depravity I see in Dauntless, though, I could not leave it. It isn't only because the thought of living factionless, in complete isolation, sounds like a fate worse than death. It is because, in the brief moments that I have loved it here, I saw a faction worth saving. Maybe we can become brave and honorable again.

"Let's go to the cafeteria," Will says, "and eat cake."

"Okay." I smile. As we walk toward the Pit I repeat the line Will quoted to myself so I don't forget it. I believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.

It is a beautiful thought.

Later, when I return to the dormitory, Edward's bunk is stripped clean and his drawers are open, empty.

When I ask Christina where they went, she says, "He quit"

Al was supposed to get cut, but Edward's departure saved him. The Dauntless decided to spare him until the next stage.

"Who else got cut?" I say.

Christina shrugs again. "Two of the Dauntless-born. I don't remember their names."

I nod and look at the blackboard. Someone drew a line through Edward name, and changed the numbers next to everyone else's names. Now Peter is second Will is third . Tris is fifth. We started stage one with nine initiates.

Now we have seven.

"Anyone else see a target on my forehead,"

They all looked at me "Yeah, you might want to watch your back. We all will," Will said.

"Yeah I need a walk,"

"Want me to come?" Tris smiled but I waved it off.

The hall's filled with Dauntless, but I was searching for one, I couldn't find Four. Someone told me he was in the control room. "Hi Ava," this voice made me angry.

"Hello Peter, have fun putting that knife in Edward's eye? You coward," I snarled "Prove it," he smiled "Watch your back,"

I was looking out over the chasm, it was beautiful to me "Ava," I knew he'd find me "Eric,' I turned it would be dinner time soon.

"My number one, congratulations."

"What good does it do? Edward got a butter knife in the eye by Peter and Drew for second. Peter already offered me my warning. I am next on his hit list," I vented his face turned cold, colder than normal.

"Tris and I found Edward, cleaned the blood. Now I have to watch my back because Peter can't deal with being a third or even second!" I snapped siting on the railing his arms came around me lifting me off the railing "Not a wise move sitting up there Ava," his voice was tense but so cold. He just carried me to an empty hall before his lips met mine, my legs, wrapped around his waist while my arms went around his neck, I bit down a little on his full lower lip causing him to groan.

His warm lips moved to my nose "Go eat," he was gentle when he placed me on the floor "Hey," I looked up at him "I meant what I said Ava, you're mine," with another swift kiss he walked off, I was confused, I started walking seeing Tris walking "Wait up!" I called out.

We headed another way to avoid Molly and Drew who are laughing but Eric's deep voice caught our attention, I put my fingers to my lips, we listened from behind the wall.

"So you did do it Peter, let's not lie. I don't care either way" Eric said, his cold rage could be heard.

"He provoked me,"

"Sure, by being better than you. I also heard you are going after Ava since she is ranked number one, is this true? I suggest not to lie," I heard a dagger being scrapped over rock.

"Yes, I told her to watch her back," you could hear the panic in Peter's voice "I am going to make this clear, just this once Peter. If Ava gets hurt at all, I am coming for you, I will rip your intestines out while you are still alive then slowly torture you until you beg for death. If anyone hurts her you better kill yourself before I find you. She is off limits. Do you understand?" We looked around the corner, Eric had Peter by the throat his feet were off the ground, he was dangling above the ground and his face was red.

"Y-YE-YES!"

"Good, glad we understand each other," we scurried off fast "What was that about?" I asked myself.

"Should we talk to Four?"

"We should," but I wasn't sure because I knew why Eric was doing it.

 **Night all, please review!**

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	7. One Choice 7

**Hey here is another chapter… If you like Harry Potter check out this third gen story by Monterpanda "Last little sacrifice" check her profile out. I own nothing so no money is being made.**

Tris and I sit in the hallway just to get away from the dorm, we sit here and worry about Edward and about being Divergent. The smell of blood still fills the dorm, it lingers even though we scrubbed it away until our hands were sore and bleach soaked the floor this morning.

"The last stage will be more difficult, do you think they really know about us already?" Tris asked me. "It'll be the hardest and I don't know, they could but I don't think we've done anything too differently than the others."

She was about to respond when we heard people approaching, their footsteps echoing on the stone floor, the sound means people are coming. "We can talk about it more, but later." I whisper to her, she gives me a nod.

"Tris, Ava,"

Uriah stops in front of us. He waves along the Dauntless-born initiates he walks with. They exchange looks but keep moving.

"You girls okay?" he asks.

"Difficult night." Tris says. "We couldn't sleep."

"So since its' day time and we are still up from last night, we are just staying away from the dorm," I say looking up from my position on the floor.

"Yeah, I heard about that guy Edward." Uriah looks down the hallway. The Dauntless-born initiates disappear around a corner. Then he grins a little. "Want to get out of here?"

"What?" I ask. "Where are you going?"

"To a little initiation ritual," he says. "Come on. We have to hurry."

I briefly consider my options, I can sit here or I can leave the Dauntless compound. I push myself to my feet and jog next to Uriah to catch up to the Dauntless-born initiates. Tris is right behind me the same look in her eyes as me and Uriah.

"The only initiates they usually let come are ones with older siblings in Dauntless," he says. "But they might not even notice. Just act like you belong."

"What exactly are we doing?" Tris asked him.

"Something dangerous," he says. A look I can only describe as Dauntless mania enters his eyes. Excitement replaces the leaden feeling inside me. We slow when we reach the Dauntless-born initiates.

"What's the Stiff and Softie doing here?" asks a boy with a metal ring between his nostrils. "Excuse me," I grab him pinning him before he can blink, my forearm in his throat with enough force to crush his windpipe. "Don't refer to her as a Stiff, I could care less what you call me,"

"I like you," he smiled as I backed off.

"They just saw that guy get stabbed in the eye, Gabe," says Uriah. "Give them a break, okay?"

Gabe shrugs and turns away "Only because the Softie," he winked. No one else says anything although a few of them give us sidelong glances like they're sizing us up. The Dauntless-born initiates are like a pack of dogs. If we act the wrong way they won't let us run with them. But for now, we are safe.

We turn another corner, and a group of members stands at the end of the next hallway. There are too many of them to all be related to a Dauntless-born initiate, but I see some similarities among the faces.

"You sure Tris?"

"Yeah we can do this," her smile was contagious, I smiled in return. She was so much prettier than she believed.

"Let's go," one of the members says. He turns and plunges through a dark doorway. The other members follow him and we follow them. We stay close behind Uriah as we pass into darkness. Tris' toe must have hit a step; she catches herself before falling forward, she grabbed my arm for balance then started to climb.

"Back staircase," Uriah says, almost mumbling. "Usually locked."

I nod then I remember he can't see me, we climb until all the steps are gone. By then a door at the top of the staircase is open letting in daylight. We emerge from the ground a few hundred yards from the glass building above the Pit, close to the train tracks.

I feel like I have done this a thousand times before. I hear the train horn, I feel the vibrations in the ground, I see the light attached to the head car, and I crack my knuckles and bounce once on my toes.

We jog in a single pack next to the car, and in waves, members and initiates alike pile into the car.

Uriah gets in before Tris and people press behind me. She can't make any mistakes; she throws herself sideways, grabbing the handle on the side of the car, and hoists herself into the car. Uriah grabs her arm to steady her. I run grabbing the handle the muscle in my arm flexing as I swing myself up my feet landing inside, I see Tris, her hands braced on her knees catching her breath.

The train picks up its speed. Uriah, Tris, and I sit against one of the walls.

I shout over the wind, "Where are we going?"

Uriah shrugs. "Zeke never told me."

"Zeke?"

"My older brother," he says. He points across the room at a boy sitting in the doorway with his legs dangling out of the car. He is slight and short and looks nothing like Uriah apart from his coloring.

"You don't get to know. That ruins the surprise!" the girl on my left shouts. She extends her hand.

"I'm Shauna."

"Ava, this is Tris," I called out.

"I know who you both are, Four speaks of you both," she smirks I could feel heat coming from Tris "Oh? What did he say?" she spoke up.

She smirks at Tris. "He said you were a Stiff. Why do you ask?"

"If my instructor is talking about me," I hear her say, as firmly as she can, "I want to know what he's saying." She can't tell a convincing lie. "He isn't coming, is he?"

"No. He never comes to this," she says. "It's probably lost its appeal. Not much scares him, you know."

"Do you know him well?" she ask. I am too curious; I always have been but I leave the questions to Tris, who looks ready to punch Shauna in the face.

"Everyone knows Four," she says. "We were initiates together. I was bad at fighting so he taught me every night after everyone was asleep." She scratches the back of her neck, her expression suddenly serious. "Nice of him."

She gets up and stands behind the members sitting in the doorway. In a second, her serious expression is gone.

"Here we go!" shouts Shauna. The train doesn't slow down, but she throws herself out of the car. I was up I was insanely glad I could land on my feet now, my back was healed but it still would hurt it I failed and landed wrong.

I look around as I walk. The Hub is behind us, black against the clouds, but the buildings around me are dark and silent. That means we must be north of the bridge where the city is abandoned.

We turn a corner and spread out as we walk down Michigan Avenue. South of the bridge, Michigan Avenue is a busy street, crawling with people, but here it is bare.

As soon as I lift my eyes to scan the buildings, I know where we're going: the empty Hancock building, a black pillar with crisscrossed girders, the tallest building north of the bridge.

But what are we going to do? Climb it?

As we get closer, the members start to run, Uriah, Tris, and I sprint to catch up with them. Jostling one another with their elbows, they push through a set of doors at the building's base. The glass in one of them is broken, so it is just a frame. I step through it instead of opening it and follow the members through an eerie, dark entryway, crunching broken glass beneath my feet.

I expect us to go up the stairs, but we stop at the elevator bank.

"Do the elevators work?" I ask Uriah as quietly as I can.

"Sure they do," says Zeke, rolling his eyes. "You think I'm stupid enough not to come here early and turn on the emergency generator?"

"Yeah," says Uriah. "I kinda do."

Zeke glares at his brother, then puts him in a headlock and rubs his knuckles into Uriah's skull.

Zeke may be smaller than Uriah, but he must be stronger. Or at least faster. Uriah smacks him in the side and he lets go. I grin at the sight of Uriah's disheveled hair, and the elevator doors open. We pile in, members in one and initiates in the other.

"Come in this one Ava," Gabe smiled but Uriah pulled me into the other elevator "No chance Gabe," he smiled, I laughed.

"What floor?" the girl with the shaved head says.

"One hundred," Tris says.

"How would you know that?"

"Lynn, come on," says Uriah. "Be nice."

"We're in a one-hundred-story abandoned building with some Dauntless," Tris retorted with a smirk. "Why, don't you know that?"

She doesn't respond. She just jams her thumb into the right button.

The elevator zooms upward so fast my stomach sinks and my ears pop. I grab a railing at the side of the elevator watching the numbers climb. We pass twenty, and thirty, and Uriah's hair is finally smooth. Fifty, sixty, and my toes are done throbbing. Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, and the elevator comes to a stop at one hundred. I'm glad we didn't take the stairs.

"I wonder how we'll get to the roof from…" Uriah's voice trails off.

A strong wind hits me, pushing my hair across my face. There is a gaping hole in the ceiling of the hundredth floor. Zeke props an aluminum ladder against its edge and starts to climb. The ladder creaks and sways beneath his feet but he keeps climbing, whistling as he does. When he reaches the roof, he turns around and holds the top of the ladder for the next person.

Part of me wonders if this is a suicide mission disguised as a game.

It isn't the first time I've wondered that since the Choosing Ceremony.

I climb the ladder after Uriah. It reminds me of climbing the rungs on the Ferris wheel with Tris close at my heels.

Biting my lip, I make it to the top and stand on the roof of the Hancock building.

The wind is so powerful I hear and feel nothing else. I have to lean against Uriah to keep from falling over. At first, all I see is the marsh, wide and brown and everywhere, touching the horizon, devoid of life. In the other direction is the city, and in many ways it is the same, lifeless and with limits I do not know.

Uriah points to something. Attached to one of the poles on top of the tower is a steel cable as thick my wrist. On the ground is a pile of black slings made of tough fabric, large enough to hold a human being. Zeke grabs one and attaches it to a pulley that hangs from the steel cable.

"You ready Ava?" Tris' hand was firmly in mine, her hair blonde hair blowing.

I follow the cable down, over the cluster of buildings and along Lake Shore Drive. I don't know where it ends. One thing is clear, though: If I go through with this, I'll find out.

We're going to slide down a steel cable in a black sling from one thousand feet up.

"Oh my God," says Uriah.

All I can do is nod.

Shauna is the first person to get in the sling. She wriggles forward on her stomach until most of her body is supported by black fabric. Then Zeke pulls a strap across her shoulders, the small of her back, and the top of her thighs. He pulls her, in the sling, to the edge of the building and counts down from five. Shauna gives a thumbs-up as he shoves her forward, into nothingness.

"Don't worry, Gabe is waiting for you down there," Zeke says right next to my ear. He takes my arm and helps me get in, facedown.

The straps tighten around my midsection, and Zeke slides me forward, to the edge of the roof. I stare down the building's steel girders and black windows, all the way to the cracked sidewalk. I am a fool for doing this. And a fool for enjoying the feeling of my heart slamming against my sternum and sweat gathering in the lines of my palms.

"Ready, Softie?" Zeke smirks down at me. "I have to say, I'm impressed that you aren't screaming and crying right now."

"I told you," Uriah says. "She's Dauntless through and through. Now get on with it."

"Careful, brother, or I might not tighten your straps enough," Zeke says. He smacks his knee. "And then, splat!"

"Yeah, yeah," Uriah says. "And then our mother would boil you alive."

Hearing him talk about his mother, about his intact family, makes my chest hurt for a second, like someone pierced it with a needle.

"Only if she found out." Zeke tugs on the pulley attached to the steel cable. It holds, which is fortunate, because if it breaks, my death will be swift and certain. He looks down at me and says,

"Ready, set, g—"

Before he can finish the word "go," he releases the sling and I forget him, I forget Uriah, Tris, and family, and all the things that could malfunction and lead to my death. I hear metal sliding against metal and feel wind so intense it forces tears into my eyes as I hurtle toward the ground.

I feel like I am without substance, without weight. Ahead of me the marsh looks huge, its patches of brown spreading farther than I can see, even up this high. The air is so cold and so fast that it hurts my face. I pick up speed and a shout of exhilaration rises within me, stopped only by the wind that fills my mouth the second my lips part.

Held secure by the straps, I throw my arms out to the side and imagine that I am flying, like the wings on my back have expanded. I plunge toward the street, which is cracked and patchy and follows perfectly the curve of the marsh. I can imagine, up here, how the marsh looked when it was full of water, like liquid steel when it reflected the color of the sky.

My heart beats so hard it hurts, and I can't scream and I can't breathe, but I also feel everything, every vein and every fiber, every bone and every nerve, all awake and buzzing in my body as it charged with electricity. I am pure adrenaline.

The ground grows and bulges beneath me, and I can see the tiny people standing on the pavement below. I should scream, like any rational human being would, but when I open my mouth again, I just crow with joy. I yell louder, and the figures on the ground pump their fists and yell back, but they are so far away I can barely hear them.

I look down and the ground smears beneath me, all gray and white and black, glass and pavement and steel. Tendrils of wind, soft as hair, wrap around my fingers and push my arms back. I try to pull my arms to my chest again, but I am not strong enough. The ground grows bigger and bigger.

I don't slow down for another minute at least, I sail parallel to the ground, like a bird. When I slow down, I run my fingers over my hair. The wind teased it into knots. I hang about twenty feet above the ground, but that height seems like nothing now. I reach behind me and work to undo the straps holding me in. My fingers shake, but I still manage to loosen them. A crowd of members stands below. They grasp one another's arms, forming a net of limbs beneath me.

In order to get down, I have to trust them to catch me. I have to accept that these people are mine, and I am theirs. It is a braver act than sliding down the zip line.

I wriggle forward and fall. I hit their arms hard. Wrist bones and forearms press into my back, and then palms wrap around my arms and pull me to my feet. I don't know which hands hold me and which hands don't; I see grins and hear laughter.

"What'd you think?" Shauna says, clapping me on the shoulder.

"Um…" All the members stare at me. They look as windblown as I feel, the frenzy of adrenaline in their eyes and their hair askew. I know why my mother said the Dauntless were a pack of madmen. He didn't—couldn't—understand the kind of camaraderie that forms only after you've all risked your lives together.

"When can I go again?" I say. My smile stretches wide enough to show teeth, and when they laugh I laugh with them. I look toward the Hancock building, which is so far from where I stand that I can't see the people on its roof.

"Look! There she is!" someone says, pointing over my shoulder. I follow the pointed finger toward a small dark shape sliding down the steel wire.

Next its Tris, she is laughing too, next its Uriah A few seconds later I hear a bloodcurdling scream.

"I bet he'll cry."

"Zeke's brother, cry? No way. He would get punched so hard."

"His arms are flailing!" Tris smiles.

"He sounds like a strangled cat," I say. Everyone laughs again. I feel a twinge of guilt for teasing Uriah when he can't hear me, but I would have said the same thing if he were standing here. I hope.

When Uriah finally comes to a stop, I follow the members to meet him. We line up beneath him and thrust our arms into the space between us. We walk back into Dauntless together, Tris and I among Dauntless and Dauntless born initiates. The Pit was full, Gabe was flirting "So Ava, I like a girl that can hold her own,"

"I would assume a Dauntless man would like his women that way, no damsels in distress for you." I laughed along with Lynn, Marlene and Tris.

"Do you think you have better things to do Gabe," his deep menacing voice made me stand up straight and Tris leap to her feet, Lynn even jumped up look worried. Uriah and Gabe "And Uriah, you should be working on your training with Marlene and Lynn,"

"Ava and you Stiff, I couldn't find you for a few hours. I will assume you were training, because you won't like what I do if I find out you left the compound," but when he said it his dark cold eyes are trained on me.

"We should go Ava," Tris took my hand "Bye, Lynn, Uriah and Gabe," we walked away fast I could feel his eyes on me until he couldn't see me anymore. We still smell like wind when we walk into the cafeteria that evening. For the second after I walk in, we stand among a crowd of Dauntless, and I feel like one of them. Then Shauna waves to me and the crowd breaks apart, and I walk toward the table where Christina, Al, and Will sit, gaping at me and Tris.

I didn't think about them when I accepted Uriah's invitation. In a way, it is satisfying to see stunned looks on their faces. But I don't want them to be upset with us either, by the look on Tris face she must feel the same, her emotions can easily be read.

"Where were you?" asks Christina. "What were you doing with them?"

"Uriah…you know, the Dauntless-born who was on our capture the flag team?" I say. "He was leaving with some of the members and he begged them to let us come along. They didn't really want us there."

"They may not have wanted you guys there then," says Will quietly, "but they seem to like you now."

"Yeah," I say. I can't deny it. "I'm glad to be back, though."

Hopefully they can't tell I'm lying, but I suspect they can't. I caught sight of myself in a window on the way into the compound, and my cheeks and eyes were both bright, my hair tangled. I look like I have experienced something powerful.

We dress for stage two today.

As far as I can tell, the second stage of initiation involves sitting in a dark hallway with the other initiates, wondering what's going to happen behind a closed door.

Uriah sits across from me with Marlene on his left and Lynn on his right. The Dauntless-born initiates and the transfers were separated during stage one, but we will be training together from now on. That's what Four told us before he disappeared behind the door.

"So," says Lynn, scuffing the floor with her shoe. "Which one of you is ranked first, huh?"

Her question is met with silence at first, and then Peter clears his throat like he is trying to lay claim to it.

"I am Lynn," I smile "Go figure," she says.

"Why you think you could take me, you should go have words with Gabe," a smile lit her face. "But have fun with Peter, he is second,"

"Who's Peter?"

"Me," he says.

"Bet I could take you." She says it casually, turning the ring in her eyebrow with her fingertips.

"I'm second, but I bet any of us could take you, transfer."

I almost laugh. If I was still Amity her comment would be rude and out of place, but among the Dauntless, challenges like that seem common. I am almost starting to expect them.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, if I were you," Peter says, his eyes glittering. "Who's first?"

"Uriah," she says. "And I am sure. You know how many years we've spent preparing for this?"

"You and me Uriah," I winked "I heard about you from Zeke, a prodigy like Four," he said in awe.

"So you're first," Will says to Uriah.

Uriah shrugs. "Yeah. And?"

"And you don't think it's a little unfair that you've spent your entire life getting ready for this, and we're expected to learn it all in a few weeks?" Will says, his eyes narrowing.

"Not really. Stage one was about skill, sure, but no one can prepare for stage two," he says. "At least, so I'm told."

No one responds to that. We sit in silence for twenty minutes. I count each minute on my watch.

Then the door opens again and Four calls another name.

"Peter," he says.

Each minute wears into me like a scrape of sandpaper. Gradually our numbers begin to dwindle, and soon it's just me, Tris, Uriah, and Drew. Drew's leg bounces, and Uriah's fingers tap against his knee.

The door opens and Four beckons to me. "Come on, Ava,"

Four touches the middle of my back to guide me into the room and closes the door behind me.

When I see what's inside, I recoil immediately, my shoulders hitting his chest.

In the room is a reclining metal chair, similar to the one I sat in during the aptitude test. Beside it is a familiar machine. This room has no mirrors and barely any light. There is a computer screen on a desk in the corner.

"Ava, it's okay. Please sit," his hand gently squeezes my shoulders as he guides me to the chair then helps me into it.

"What's the simulation?" I say, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

"Ever hear the phrase 'face your fears'?" he says. "We're taking that literally. The simulation will teach you to control your emotions in the midst of a frightening situation."

I touch a wavering hand to my forehead. Simulations aren't real; they pose no real threat to me, so logically I shouldn't be afraid of them but my reaction is visceral.

The cold from the metal seeps through my clothes.

"Do you ever administer the aptitude tests?" I say. He seems qualified.

"No," he replies.

"Eric thinks I am his, Four,"

"I have been watching, you need to stay clear of him Ava. Not like it matters, he seems to find you. I love you, you are my little sister, mine to protect, and we can talk about Eric later,"

"I love you too," we both smiled real smiles, the first I've seen from him.

His fingers brush my neck. He taps something, and I tilt my head back to see what it is. Four holds a syringe with a long needle in one hand, his thumb against the plunger. The liquid in the syringe is tinted orange.

"An injection?" My mouth goes dry. I don't usually mind needles, but this one is huge.

"We use a more advanced version of the simulation here," he says, "a different serum, no wires or electrodes for you."

"How does it work without wires?"

"Well, I have wires, so I can see what's going on," he says. "But for you, there's a tiny transmitter in the serum that sends data to the computer."

He turns my arm over and eases the tip of the needle into the tender skin on the side of my neck. A deep ache spreads through my throat. I wince and try to focus on his calm face.

"The serum will go into effect in sixty seconds. This simulation is different from the aptitude test," he says. "In addition to containing the transmitter, the serum stimulates the amygdala, which is the part of the brain involved in processing negative emotions—like fear—and then induces a hallucination. The brain's electrical activity is then transmitted to our computer, which then translates your hallucination into a simulated image that I can see and monitor. I will then forward the recording to Dauntless administrators. You stay in the hallucination until you calm down—that is, lower your heart rate and control your breathing."

I try to follow his words, but my thoughts are going haywire. I feel the trademark symptoms of fear: sweaty palms, racing heart, tightness in my chest, dry mouth, a lump in my throat, difficulty breathing. He plants his hands on either side of my head and leans over me.

"Be brave, Ava," he whispers. "The first time is always the hardest."

"I know you like Tris," but my words sound like mush but I still see his face before I go under, his eyes are the last thing I see, I manage a smile when I see the surprise in them.

I woke in a dark room the air is stale but musty all the same, no sound can be heard. A blue light flickers on I see a dark figure moving in the shadows, I try to move but I can't.

I am now sitting in an old wooden chair, my hands tied behind my back. The figure comes closer but nothing is visible to recognize them but I know it's not female. A knife glimmers in the blue light. I look around, taking in my surroundings, I notice we are in a barn, five poles stick from the ground. I heard birds chirping in the distance, the faint sounds of laughter as if I wasn't tied to a chair with some unknown threat facing me.

Then a single sob rang out, my eyes turned up Tris was tied to a pole, then Johanna, Four, and Christina, and then Eric was last. All battered and bruised, all looking at me with accusing eyes.

"Why did you do this Ava?" Christina sobbed then I see Will dead at her feet, she struggles against her ties.

"My child, this wasn't the right path," my mother's kind voice said, I couldn't look at her, I couldn't be this powerless.

"You should have listened," but the figure laughed and Four was dead as I screamed as loud as Tris followed. I struggled against the bonds, this was just a stimulation but I had to repeat it in my head multiple times.

The figure was so close now his breath smelled of cinnamon, my eyes shoot open "I told you, and you didn't listen,"

I was powerless as he killed Four, he was going to kill them all, this wasn't real "This isn't real," I said out loud when the ropes vanished the chair exploded into tiny wooden splinters, the dark sentencing figure vanished.

My friends still crying and my brother dead but it wasn't real, my heart slows and I become calm I open my eyes, and I am sitting in the metal chair.

I moan and pull my knees to my chest, burying my face in them.

A hand touches my shoulder, and I fling a fist out, hitting something solid but soft. "Don't touch me!" I sob.

"It's over," Four says. The hand shifts awkwardly over my hair, and I remember my mother stroking my hair when she kissed me goodnight.

"Ava?" he sighs, "How long do you think you were in the simulation for?" Four asked me, the vision of him dying flashing when I look at him.

"Too long, I know you saw," I looked away with tears falling down my face, I didn't bother wiping them off.

"Two minutes,"

"Two times faster than I have ever seen, and you will do better tomorrow, you're not a failure," his blue eyes calm, he kissed my forehead as I walked out a few tears still visible.

"Come on, Tris,"

"Good Luck," I whispered touching her shoulder "I will come find you after,"

"You better, I think you'll need it," if we are as much alike as Tori think's, she will.

When I walk a while later, most of the other initiates—Dauntless-born and transfer alike—are crowded between the rows of bunk beds with Peter at their center. He holds a piece of paper in both hands.

"The mass exodus of the children of Abnegation leaders cannot be ignored or attributed to coincidence," he reads. "The recent transfer of Beatrice and Caleb Prior, the children of Andrew Prior, calls into question the soundness of Abnegation's values and teachings."

"Why else would the children of such an important man decide that the lifestyle he has set out for them is not an admirable one?" Peter continues. "Molly Atwood, a fellow Dauntless transfer, suggests a disturbed and abusive upbringing might be to blame. "I heard her talking in her sleep once," Molly says. "She was telling her father to stop doing something. I don't know what it was, but it gave her nightmares."

"However, perhaps the answer lies not in a morally bereft man, but in the corrupted ideals of an entire faction. Perhaps the answer is that we have entrusted our city to a group of proselytizing tyrants who do not know how to lead us out of poverty and into prosperity."

"You little," I scream Uriah, Al, Lynn, Marlene, Christina, and Will watch as I storm up, none of us noticed Tris also has walked in "Give it to me!"

"What if I don't?"

"If you value your intestines I would hand that over and learn to shut your mouth you aren't in Candor anymore. You aren't anyone here and you never will be," his face was turning red I wasn't afraid of him but he was afraid of Eric.

"Sure thing," he handed over the paper walking out with Molly "If anyone believes this garbage come see me, Abnegation is selfless, this is all lies."

It looked as if no one was going to say a word when a girl around 18 with teal hair walked up to me, she landed a solid hit to my face I stumbled back "I have a problem with it, selfless my ass,"

"Fiona, you're mad Brock left for Abnegation," Lynn smiled "Well I see we have a taker," I tossed my jacket to Al.

She was fast, but I was good, my hands up blocking my face as she kicked I grabbed her leg swinging her into the bunk. I grabbed her hair smashing her face into the metal frame "Learn to shut up," I kicked her in the left rib hearing it crack before I did it another time.

She was up holding her side everyone was watching she caught my side with a round house, but her next try she missed hitting air. My fist hit her, nose, eye and jaw as she fell to the floor, her long hair was braided so I grabbed it dragging her up.

"Come on, you wanted this fight," she was stumbling.

She wasn't landing any hits, with one kick to her chest she was out her head hitting the floor "Anyone else have anything to say?" I looked around breathing hard.

"It's my turn to get tattooed," Christina says I just stare before saying "Fine let's go,"

"You okay Tris?" I asked.

"Yeah, I was only four minutes," it was a whisper "I was two," we look at each other with worry, my heart is racing. Christina convinces Tris and me to get matching tattoos, the Dauntless symbol. It is a circle with a flame inside it. Three best friends.

I was next when a warm hand touched my shoulder "Come on," was heard I sat getting my Tattoo Christina and Tris watching and now Eric. "So Ava, I was told you ran into a problem with Fiona and you handled it well. I need to talk to you after dinner, I would suggest you don't hide from me," his fingers are biting into my shoulder so hard I want to cry out.

"Of course," I smiled "Good. Bud this tattoo of hers is on my credit,"

"Sure thing sir," Bud smiled as Eric walked away, I let out a breath I didn't know I was even holding, slamming my head on the headrest.

"What are you going to do?" Christina asked as we walked out "I can't hide now," Tris snorted.

So, what was your fear today, Tris?"

"Too many crows," Tris replied. "You?"

He laughs. "Too much acid."

I don't ask what that means.

"It's really fascinating how it all works," he says. "It's basically a struggle between your thalamus, which is producing the fear, and your frontal lobe, which makes decisions. But the simulation is all in your head, so even though you feel like someone is doing it to you, it's just you, doing it to yourself and…" He trails off. "Sorry. I sound like an Erudite. Just a habit."

I shrug. "It's interesting."

"What was yours Ava?" Tris asked.

"Powerless, is basically what it was. I couldn't save my family,"

I see Four standing by the chasm, a group of people around him. He laughs so hard he has to grab the railing for balance. I point him out to Tris. Judging by the bottle in his hand and the brightness of his face he's intoxicated, or on his way there.

"Uh-oh," says Will. "Instructor alert."

"At least it's not Eric, yet" I say.

"Sure, but Four is scary. Remember when he put the gun up to Peter's head? I think Peter wet himself."

"Peter deserved it," Tris said firmly.

Will doesn't argue with her. He might have a few weeks ago but now we've all seen what Peter is capable of.

"Tris! Ava!" Four calls out. Will and Al exchange a look, half surprise and half apprehension. Four pulls away from the railing and walks up to us. Ahead of us, Al and Christina stop running, and Christina slides to the ground. I don't blame them for staring.

"You look different Tris," His words, normally crisp, are now sluggish.

"So do you," I stand next to Tris and Four, the others a little off from us, I just listen to them.

"What are you doing?" Tris asked my brother.

"Flirting with death," he replies with a laugh. "Drinking near the chasm. Probably not a good idea."

"No, it isn't." her face is worried looking him over.

"Didn't know you had a tattoo," he was looking at her collarbone "So does Ava," she brought me to his attention "My little sister has a tattoo," his eyes on me.

"Thanks Tris, yes Four I have two. Angel wings and the Dauntless symbol,"

"I'd ask you to hang out with us, but you're not supposed to see me this way."

I am tempted to ask him why he wants us to hang out with him but I suspect the answer has something to do with the bottle in his hand.

"What way?" I ask. "Drunk?"

"Yeah…well, no." His voice softens. "Real, I guess."

"I'll pretend I didn't." Tris says in a light hearted tone.

"Nice of you." He puts his lips next to Tris ear and says, "You look good, Tris." I shouldn't have stood so close to her, I was grossed out.

"You always look beautiful Ava," he kissed my forehead. "My beautiful little sister!"

"Do us both a favor and stay away from the chasm, okay?" Tris says, she is dead serious.

"Of course." He winks at her. Then Al rushes at me like a rolling boulder and throws me over his shoulder. I shriek letting out a laugh, this was what it was like having friends.

"Come on, little girl," he says, "I'm taking you to dinner."

I rest my elbows on Al's back and wave at Four as he carries me away, Tris was laughing and waving too.

"I thought I would rescue you," Al says as we walk away. "What was that all about?"

He carried my into the dining hall "Al put her down," Christina snapped "Why you want a ride," Al joked "Yeah, yeah I do," she said but her voice was off.

But Al was so strong he picked her up tossing her over his shoulder too "Ten o'clock," my eyes moved Eric was watching looking at us messing around, he was wearing a shirt with no sleeves his muscles showing he turned on his heel his body was like his spine was made of metal, he was gone.

I sat with Tris and Christina, Will and Al sat in front of us, we had a table in the corner. I pushed my food around "I don't get why he wants to talk to me," I said "You better find out, he is waiting. Or he likes watching you push your food around," Christina says, I just groan.

Then a small conversation started.

"Yeah, I think we'd all like to know the answer to that question," says Christina in a singsong voice her eyes on Tris.

"What did he say to you?"

"Nothing." Tris shakes her head while answering. "He was drunk. He didn't even know what he was saying. That's why I was grinning. It's…funny to see him that way." Tris was smiling still.

"Right," says Will. "Couldn't possibly be because—"

Tris elbowed Will hard in the ribs before he can finish his sentence. He was close enough to hear what Four said to her about looking good.

I pushed my tray away "Yeah, I can't eat. If I don't show up tell Four, Eric killed me," I say to Tris "Should I go tell Four now?" She questions.

"No, he is drunk. Just if I don't come back to the dorm," I stood. I was brave, I was Dauntless. I have kissed this man twice, why was I scared to talk to him?

"Just come with me," he was in the shadows, I followed him through a maze of stone tunnels leading up, an apartment. A two bedroom apartment, a small kitchen and everything.

I was in his apartment "Sit," a black bed was all there was so I sat "I am getting other things, I am not here often," he looked around.

"Oh, so why did you need to talk to me Eric?"

"Many reasons. I don't want to see you riding on any males back again, it is shameful."

"Eric, Al is my friend nothing more," but he just stares at me "You are mine, you shouldn't be hanging on another guy. I don't want you sneaking out of Dauntless again, I couldn't find you for hours." He was standing at the edge of his bed.

"Do I get a say if we are boyfriend and girlfriend Eric?"

"No, you already said yes when you let me kiss you."

"Well then you must have tons of girlfriend if that's all it takes," I said standing up ready to leave.

"No, that's all it took for you Ava. You want me, don't try and deny it, I want you, and I want you to be mine and only mine. I try for you," I see this when we are alone he does try to be softer, more sweet.

"Fine, but if you hurt me we are done," he gives me a look saying there wasn't a chance we will ever be done, he doesn't answer confirming my theory.

He kissed me with passion my back hitting the bed, my hair a halo around my head as his hands touched my face, my hips moving up further. "No Eric, that's a no go," my eyes telling him back off.

"This is enough…for now," his deep voice was husky and deep with his emotions.

Feeling his lips trailing in leisurely kisses down my jaw moving to my neck making me moan "You like that," he breathes against my neck.

"Yes," it comes out as a purr as he goes back to my neck a little rougher this time my hand roaming under his shirt, he tugs it off it lands on the floor. I look at his chest for the first time, it is covered in tribal tattoos my fingertips tracing over them like feathers. I move my body up placing my lips to his Adams apple tracing my tongue around it before placing a kiss, my lips moved, nipping at his ear, his neck, making him groan as his hands moved cupping my ass bringing me as close to his body as possible.

Our lips molded together again, our tongues battling for dominance, his body covering mine, I could feel his rings hitting the soft flesh of my lips when a loud knock was heard "Go to the bathroom, I don't want anyone to know. They might think I play favorites," I was up walking into his small bathroom sitting on the counter for what seemed like hours, I peed before sitting back on the counter.

Finally the door opened "I am sorry, I didn't know it'd take that long. It was Max and another Dauntless leader, I have to go to Erudite now. I should be back by morning." His arms were around me picking me up.

"I have to go, my friends will think something bad happened if I don't arrive back soon." a cruel look over took his once soft face.

"Go get some sleep," he smiled "I will, be safe." I touched his face placing my palm on the side, we just looked into each other's eyes for what could have been minutes or eternity.

"I will walk you to the Chasm,"

"Okay," I noticed hanging was my necklace the Amity symbol shinning "You kept it?"

"I did," was all he said his hand on the small of my back as he lead me out of the tunnel, I would always know how to get back to his apartment. A few Dauntless are milling around and hurry to move out of his way, I just look like hell so they must assume I was hurt.

I try and fix my hair as we reach the Chasm, my brother is gone, I hope he is safe in bed and not dead, I look over but nothing. "I will see you tomorrow Ava, sleep well," it sounded sweet yet cruel to anyone in ear shot.

"Thank you, be safe." He looked as if he wanted to touch my face but he thought better of it, he turned walking off, I stood looking over the Chasm.

"Good, I was going to look for Four," Tris says as she walks up to me "I am fine, just worried Tris. We are doing the Stimulation too fast, they are going to notice," 

"I was worried about the same thing Ava,"

"We need find Tori and try again," I say as we head to bed where Christina hugs me "You're alive!"

"Yeah, will tell you about Eric another time. I am frazzled right now."

"I understand, but I want details. So as soon as possible," Christina smiled as we got into T-shirts when a Dauntless walked in "Hey Ava," I turned, nice I was in a T-shirt and underwear.

"Yeah,"

"This is for you," he smiled handing me a large wrapped thing "Thanks," he just ran off, I hoped it didn't explode.

"Open it," Christina looked over my shoulder with Tris.

It was a large slice of chocolate cake with a white "E" on it "Cake, what. I didn't see any cake," Christina mumbled.

"Come on we can share," I laughed as Tris, Christina, and I ate my cake "Eric sends you cake," Tris figured it out "Once or twice, but hello he isn't favoring me just look at my back, or what he has done to my face." I said in defense.

"I agree, he definitely likes you but hell it doesn't stop him from punishing you, and you are skilled so no, I don't think he plays favorites. Bet he gets off on it, the punishments," I hit Christina with a pillow as others came in for bed.

"Oh that's gross," Tris said I leaned over to her "Like my brother thinking you look good," she hit me in the face with her pillow.

"I see that's how it is," I jumped up taking aim nailing her Tris stumbled back grabbing her pillow, as Christina ran for hers, it was on. Will and Al jumped in, it lasted until Four staggered in "Lights out," I tossed my pillow on accident meaning to hit Tris one last time but I ended up hitting him dead in the face.

"I am so sorry, I was meaning to hit Tris one last time," I covered my face so he wouldn't see my smile, his eyes red, he held my pillow. "Come get it, Ava,"

I walked over to get the pillow but he wacked me in the face with my own pillow, he smiled as I laughed "Now, its lights out,"

The lights shut off, and it was easy falling to sleep even with me missing Eric.

I almost fell out of bed. Did I really just think _that_? I miss Eric? Oh sweet apple orchids I am in way too deep. I inwardly groaned and flopped back onto my pillow, my face on it so if I decided to outwardly groan it would be muffled.

 **Thanks for reading and please review…**


	8. One Choice 8

**Another chapter for One Choice, hope you are enjoying it. I own nothing Mrs. Roth does, I don't agree with some parts of the books but that's what fanfiction is for, right? So since I own nothing it means no money is being made from my writing. Again thanks for reading, and please review.**

I was in the metal chair again but I'd rather not be here at all, Eric isn't back yet either "It's just a stimulation," Four says placing a small kiss to my forehead before I fall into the darkness. The last thing I remember is the old steal of the chair biting into my skin, the needle being stuck in my neck, and my brother's warm kiss to my forehead.

I see my friends laughing and talking, everything looks okay. A blue orb lights up next to me than another until the room is flooded with light. I am above the Chasm then my vision goes wary, everyone is upside down. I struggle to reach out to them when I notice they aren't upside down but I am. I was hanging upside down, the roaring water below me spraying my face with cold water. My feet bound with rope, I go under the cold water than up, my friends laughing, Tris laughing along with Peter like they're best friends. I go under again, the roaring water pulling me under, water filling my lungs, I will die.

I gulp in air the second I am above the water again, dangling. Four watches but he doesn't move to help, it unnerves me. Something nags in my mind "This isn't real," my mind screams none of this is real, I couldn't die here; I could do anything. As soon as the actual thought came the rope was gone and I fell into the rapid waters of the Chasm, I smiled, none of this was real. The water calmed looking serene and peaceful. I woke with a start bolting from the chair, I took rapid breaths as I looked around the small room.

I expect to taste water, to feel the water dripping from my hair and clothes, but I don't. I shake myself from the hysteria. Four stands to my right but instead of helping me up, he just looks at me.

"What?" I ask.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Calm the waters, after that it went blank," his eyes on me "I don't know." Four finally offers me his hand. I swing my legs over the side of the chair, and when I stand, I feel steady. Calm.

He looks at me with such sadness and frustration, he grabs me by the wrist and pulls me out of the room through the back door. He leads me down the narrow hallway until he pushes me against the wall. He towers over me, a knowing expression overcame him.

"What?" I demand suddenly afraid.

"You're Divergent," he replies.

I didn't know what to say, my eyes round, I was scared. I knew if I did well this would happen, I didn't mean to I just did what came naturally.

"You manipulated the simulation; you're Divergent. I'll delete the footage but you need to learn how to handle these simulations and not just change them, Ava."

"We don't know how Four! You don't think this keeps us up at night, we don't know who we can trust other than each other and one other, now you know! Don't let them hurt us!" I balled my fist up letting out my frustrations, my voice strained and tears threatening to spill.

"We? I thought Tris was too, this just confirms it,"

"They will kill us, Eric will kill me. You'll tell them!" Four wrapped me in his arms "No, I won't let that happen to you or Tris. I won't let them, come find me later," he kissed my forehead before going back to the room. He had others to do, I waited outside the door for Tris. When she emerged she looked to be crying.

"He knows," was all she said "He found out with me, come on," I grasped her hand there still was no sign of my boyfriend, was he my boyfriend? We walk straight to the tattoo place where I last saw Tori.

There aren't many people out because its mid-afternoon and most of them are at work or at school.

There is only three people in the tattoo place, the tattoo artist Bud and the Dauntless man he is tattooing a lion on and Tori. She was sorting through a rather large stack of papers, I knew we shouldn't bother her but this was urgent. It was life or death and I, for one, do not want to die this young.

"Hello, girls," she says. She glances at the other tattoo artist, he's in deep concentration so he has yet to notice Tris and me. "Let's go in the back." I grabbed Tris' hand and we follow Tori behind a thick satin curtain that separates the two tattoo rooms. The next room contains a few chairs, spare tattoo needles, ink, pads of paper, and framed artwork. It was an organized mess. Tori looks to Bud before quietly closing the curtain and sitting in one of the chairs facing us. I sit next to her, bouncing my leg since my feet don't exactly touch the floor.

"What's going on?" she says. "How are the simulations going?"

"Oh you know, really well," I waved my hand.

"A little too well," Tris said, worrying taking over her expression.

"Ah," Tori looked at us.

"Tori, we need answers before we get killed, which might be soon, and you know something. Can you please help us understand?" I asked her.

"What does it mean to be…?" Tris hesitates. "What the hell am I? What does it have to do with the simulations?" she finishes.

Tori's demeanor changes. She leans back and crosses her arms. Her expression becomes guarded.

"Among other things, you two…you two are someone who is aware, when they are in a simulation, that what they are experiencing is not real," she says. "Someone who can then manipulate the simulation or even shut it down. And also…" She leans forward and looks into my eyes then Tris', making sure we understand her. "Someone who, because you two are also Dauntless…tend to die."

I let out a harsh little laugh that dies almost as soon as it's born and say, "So I'm going to die, then?"

"Not necessarily," she says. "The Dauntless leaders don't know about you yet. I deleted both of your aptitude results from the system immediately and manually logged your result as Abnegation for Tris and Erudite for you Ava. But make no mistake—if they discover what you are, they will kill you."

I stare at her in silence. She doesn't look crazy. Her voice steady, urging us to understand the graveness of our actions.

"You're paranoid," Tris sounded upset as if she couldn't believe it. "The leaders of the Dauntless wouldn't kill us. People don't do that. Not anymore. That's the point of all this…all the factions."

"Oh, you think so?" She plants her hands on her knees and stares right at Tris, her features taut with sudden ferocity. "They got my brother, why not you, huh? What makes you special?"

"Your brother?" I say, narrowing my eyes. I never knew she had a brother but I knew I didn't like the way she was looking at Tris, like it was her fault.

"Yeah. My brother. He and I both transferred from Erudite, only his aptitude test was inconclusive.

On the last day of simulations, they found his body in the chasm. Said it was a suicide. Only my brother was doing well in training, he was dating another initiate, he was happy." She shakes her head, a bitter smile plays on her lips.

"I am sorry Tori," Tris says, her face pale. She must be thinking of her own brother, Caleb. Maybe I should be thinking about Four, he was my brother even though I hardly knew him.

She rolled her sleeves up and I notice a tattoo of a river. I wonder if the river signified a fear that she overcame. If that fear was the death of her brother, not being able to save him. She seemed so strong, maybe it was because of losing her brother.

She lowers her voice. "In the second stage of training, Georgie got really good, really fast. He said the simulations weren't even scary to him…they were like a game. So the instructors took a special interest in him. Piled into the room when he went under, instead of just letting the instructor report his results. Whispered about him all the time. The last day of simulations, one of the Dauntless leaders came in to see it himself. And the next day, Georgie was gone."

I could be better than him, I could master the simulations and make them whatever I want. But I know if I did I wouldn't last long, even Four couldn't hide it if I became that good. I wanted to become that good but I wouldn't. I would hide it, I would hide it all.

"Is that all it is?" I ask. "Being able to change the simulations? That seems like nothing"

"I doubt it," she says, "but that's all I know."

"How many people know about this?" I ask thinking of Four, if he knew did that mean he was one? "About manipulating the simulations?"

"Two kinds of people," she says. "People who want you dead. Or people who have experienced it themselves. Firsthand. Or secondhand, like me."

Four told me he would delete the recording of me calming the Chasm waters causing the shutdown of the stimulation. He doesn't want me dead. Is he Divergent? I was his sister, he could tell me. I wanted him to confide in me. And I knew he liked Tris, he liked Tris a lot. Maybe even wanted her to be his girlfriend but he was too odd, too closed off from the feelings of others and the feelings that lived inside himself. Maybe he didn't know how to show love, maybe he was scared of opening up to either of us because he feared the love he felt.

Was Eric like that? Was he scared of what he felt, of what I felt? I doubt he's loved anyone before and for some reason I doubt he's ever been shown love. I wondered how many girls have found themselves in his bed. I was afraid of that, I was afraid of how cold he was. It seemed like that was all he knew, all he could feel. Anger, resentment, the need to win to every little competition. If I was the first person he felt this type of love and care for then he would mess up a lot, I was afraid of how badly he would mess up if I was his first. I was afraid of him.

I push the thought aside. I can't let Eric distract me.

"I don't understand," I say slowly, "why the Dauntless leader's care that I can manipulate the simulation, it doesn't seem like something that would affect them at all. I have a strong mind." I shook my head not understanding the threat they thought we posed.

"If I had it figured out I would have told you by now." She presses her lips together. "The only thing I've come up with is that changing the simulation isn't what they care about; it's just a symptom of something else. Something they do care about."

Tori takes one of each of our hands into hers, holding them tightly with an urgent look in her eyes.

"Think about this," she says. "These people taught you how to use a gun. They taught you how to fight. You think they're above hurting you? Above killing you?"

She releases our hand and stands.

"I have to go or Bud will ask questions. Be careful, girls."

It's been four days since our talk with Tori, Christina charmed the cook into letting us try cake batter, and Uriah taught Tris and me a card game that we played for two hours in the dining hall. I wasn't all that good but Tris was a natural.

I have faced my fears these four days, I have five fears they repeat themselves over and over. The most powerful is losing my family, Tris, Four, and Johanna, it keeps me up at night, makes me wake up in a cold sweat shaking, nearly screaming.

I sit watching the roaring water hitting the rocks, spraying everywhere. When I get back to the dormitory I expect to find the same thing I found the day before: a few initiates lying on beds or staring at nothing. Instead they stand in a group on the other end of the room.

Eric is in front of them with a chalkboard in his hands, which is facing the other way so I can't see what's written on it. I stand next to Will.

"What's going on?" I whisper. I hope it isn't another article, because I'm not sure I can handle any more.

"Rankings for stage two," Will says.

"I thought there weren't any cuts after stage two," I was confused, Tris came and stood by me looking equally as confused. "Yeah, I thought there wasn't either. Was there another change of rules?"

"There aren't. It's just a progress report, sort of."

I nod but Tris looks worried, I guess we should be.

Eric lifts the board above his head and hangs it on the nail. When he steps aside, the room falls silent, and I crane my neck to see what it says.

My name is in the first slot.

Ava: one minute thirty seconds

Tris: two minutes forty five seconds

Peter: eight minutes

Uriah: eight minutes five seconds

Will: nine minutes

Lynn: nine minutes thirty one seconds

Christina: nine minutes thirty five seconds

Marlene: ten minutes

Molly: ten minutes fifteen seconds

Drew: eleven minutes

Al: eleven minutes forty seconds

It went on.

Heads turn in my direction. I follow the list down. Eric gives me a wink with that wicked smile before walking from the dorm, leaving us alone.

Peter turns slowly but his eyes are on Tris "I will not be outranked by a Stiff and a Softie," he snarls. "You are supposed to be the weak ones!" Tris hides behind Will but I stay planted where I am, I will not hide. Peter is uncomfortably close, I can smell his stale breath.

"How did you did you two do it?! Huh, how the hell did you two do it?!"

He grabs me by my shirt, pulling me away from the group and throws me against the wall. He was seething in anger, pain shot through my back. The skin was now more sensitive after the whipping even though the scars were healed. I stood but he was on me, he tried to land a punch but I dodged and Tris stepped in. She wasn't so lucky, he caught her side. That's when things got personal.

"Back off Peter," I growled, I grabbed him around the throat crushing his wind pipe before pulling him back "Only a coward bullies a little girl." Will says helping Tris.

I shove Peter into the wall but he doesn't stop "Are you blind, or just stupid? They're going to edge you guys out of the rankings and out of Dauntless, and you're going to get nothing, all because she knows how to manipulate people and you don't. So when you realize that she's out to ruin us all, you let me know."

"Or maybe. We faced our fears, can you say the same you pathetic coward? I am ranked first. You're just afraid that we're more dauntless than you, you're afraid that I'm going to push you out of the rankings. I'm first, you have a problem take it up with me, not Tris," I yelled but Peter storms out of the dormitory. Molly and Drew follow him, with looks of disgust on their faces.

"That's right face your fears, calm yourself, be brave. That's how I did it. Damn, my secrets out," I slammed my hand down on my bunk.

"Is that all it is?" Christina hopped down from her bunk reading me "Yes, Chris it is." She watched before giving us a nod "Okay then," she bumped Will with a smile.

But Al just stood looking at the ranking board.

"Thanks Ava," Tris mumbled "No problem," we walked out together, we could see Christina wanted some Will time.

"Ava, Tris," someone calls from the end of the hallway. Uriah jogs toward us. Behind him are Lynn and Marlene. Lynn is holding a muffin.

"Thought I would find you ladies here." He crouches near my feet. "I heard you got ranked first Ava, Tris you moved to second,"

"So you just wanted to congratulate us?" I smirk. "Well, thanks."

"Someone should," he says. "And I figured your friends might not be so congratulatory since their ranks aren't as high. So quit moping and come with us. I'm going to shoot a muffin off Marlene's head."

The idea is so ridiculous I can't stop myself from laughing. Tris gets up and follows Uriah to the end of the hallway I am a few feet behind them, where Marlene and Lynn are waiting. Lynn narrows her eyes at Tris, but Marlene grins.

"Why aren't you out celebrating?" she asks. "You're two practically guaranteed a top ten spot if you keep it up."

"They're too Dauntless for the other transfers," Uriah says.

"Why are you shooting a muffin off Marlene's head?" Tris asked.

"She bet that I couldn't aim well enough to hit a small object from one hundred feet," Uriah explains. "I bet her she didn't have the guts to stand there as I tried. It works out well, really."

The training room where I first fired a gun is not far from our hidden hallway. We get there in under a minute, and Uriah flips on a light switch. It looks the same as the last time we were there: targets on one end of the room, a table with guns on the other. Wait, why the hell were there guns just lying around. That just makes it easier for Peter to kill us.

"They just keep these lying around?" I ask, baffled by the stupidity.

"Yeah, but they aren't loaded." Uriah pulls up his shirt. There is a gun stuck under the waistband of his pants, right under a tattoo. I stare at the tattoo, trying to figure out what it is, but then he lets his shirt fall. Would it be weird to ask him to lift his shirt up again? "Okay," he says. "Go stand in front of a target."

Marlene walks away, a skip in her step which is very Amity of her, but I smile keeping my mouth shut.

"You aren't seriously going to shoot at her, are you?" I ask Uriah, I don't think I'd like to witness his failure ending up with Marlene being dead but the then bloody muffin being perfectly intact.

"It's not a real gun," says Lynn quietly. "It's got plastic pellets in it. The worst it'll do is sting her face, maybe give her a welt." Lynn seems to not like Tris but gets along well with me, I liked this. Lynn was nice.

Marlene stands in front of one of the targets and sets the muffin on her head. Uriah squints one eye as he aims the gun.

"Wait!" calls out Marlene. She breaks off a piece of the muffin and pops it into her mouth. I giggled, she was adorable and odd.

"Mmkay!" she shouts, a big grin on her face. She gives Uriah a thumbs up as she eats the bit of muffin that garbled her words.

Uriah smiles as he aims. He squeezes the trigger. The muffin falls off Marlene's head. She didn't even blink. She was brave.

"We both win!" she shouts.

"You miss your old faction?" Lynn asks me.

"Sometimes," I say. "Doesn't every transfer," Tris adds but Peter, Molly and Drew don't.

Marlene picks up the muffin from the ground and bites into it. Uriah shouts, "Gross!"

"Give me some Marlene," I yelled as a chunk of muffin sailed, it was an easy catch popping it into my mouth.

"Initiation's supposed to wear us down to who we really are. That's what Eric says, anyway," Lynn says. She arches an eyebrow.

"Four says it's to prepare us." Tris countered.

"Well, they don't agree on much." I added. "If on anything."

Four told me that Eric's vision for Dauntless is not what it's supposed to be, but I wish he would tell me exactly what he thinks the right vision is. I get glimpses of it every so often—the Dauntless cheering when I jumped off the building, the net of arms that caught me after zip lining—but they are not enough. Has he read the Dauntless manifesto? Is that what he believes in—in ordinary acts of bravery? I believe in both, I loved both. I didn't want to be cruel but sometimes it was needed.

"Give me the gun Uriah," I smile he hands it over "Now run," he smiles as I aim, he doesn't think I am serious, he grins and shakes his head. "You wouldn't, you're like a little fairy."

I shoot hitting right between his eyebrows, a red welt instantly formed. "That hurt!" he screamed in disbelief.

"The girl said run," Lynn laughed, I nailed him four out of five times. I stopped when the door to the training room opens. Shauna, Zeke, and Four walk in. "I thought I heard something in here," says Four.

"Turns out it's my idiot brother," says Zeke. "You're not supposed to be in here after hours. Careful, or Four will tell Eric, and then you'll be as good as scalped."

Uriah wrinkles his nose at his brother and tucks the pellet gun into his belt. Marlene crosses the room, taking bites of her muffin I would take a bite right after, and Four steps away from the door to let us file out.

"You wouldn't tell Eric," says Lynn, eyeing Four suspiciously.

"Better not or you're next," I mumbled as Four says "No, I wouldn't," Lynn was the only one to catch what I said, she suppressed a laugh.

I walked out but Tris was talking to Four she was blushing and so is he "Come on, Tris. Night Four," I kissed his cheek "Goodnight Ava. Sleep well Tris," I smiled pulling her to the dorms.

Its late "I am thirsty," I muttered "Go get water," Christina muttered nearly asleep. "I will come, I need some too," Tris offered, my bare feet made a soft thump on the cold stone floor when I jump from my bunk, my fingertips trailing against the walls. Tris was doing the same, I felt her hands brush mine. A blue bulb glows over the fountain, I pull my messy hair to the side letting the water fill my dry mouth, it's cold and refreshing. Tris bends down when we hear voices at the end of the hallway. I creep closer to them, trusting the dark to keep me hidden.

"So far there haven't been any signs of it." Eric's voice, my heart is ready to break. Signs of what?

"Well, you wouldn't have seen much of it yet," someone replies. A female voice; cold and cruel but familiar, like a voice I heard in a simulation. "Combat training shows you nothing. The simulations, however, reveal who the Divergent rebels are, if there are any, so we will have to examine the footage several times to be sure."

The word "Divergent" makes me go cold. I lean forward, my back pressed to the stone, to see who the familiar voice belongs to.

"Don't forget the reason I had Max appoint you," the voice says. "Your first priority is always finding them. Always."

"I won't forget."

I shift a few inches forward, hoping I am still hidden. Whoever that voice belongs to, she is pulling the strings. I wanted her dead.

The women is gone "Come out Ava," I was considering running back to the dorm my hand pressed against Tris pushing her back "Come out now, I can smell you," I was shaking.

I gave a look to Tris before walking around the corner "I was getting a drink,"

"And stayed around to listen,"

"Well, I only heard the last few words, about finding them and you won't forget," I said placing my palms on his chest looking up into his cold eyes.

"Come on," he must have noticed my lack of real clothes, he picked me up easily. He made me feel so small but the obvious muscle I was getting suggested otherwise. I laid my head against his shoulder, I could tell by the twisting and turning and the familiar halls that we were heading to his apartment. "Someone might see," I whispered.

"Doubtful,"

He dropped me on his bed looking at me for a minute "I will be right back," I heard the door shut, I lay in his bed it was soft and warm. Only one blue light overhead made anything visible.

He walked back out in black pants made of cotton and nothing more, his bare chest on display "Who were you talking to Eric?"

"Jeanine Matthews she is the Erudite faction representative, I met with her," his voice was tense his fingers brushing my hair from my face placing a kiss to my temple as he got in the bed our bodies pressed together.

"Is something wrong Eric? You are looking for something, someone. Are they bad?" I wanted to know what he thought of what I was.

"Nothing you need to worry about Ava," his smile made my heart flutter, I pressed my palm to his face "I miss you when you are gone, is that wrong of me?" I question, but I am not sure who I am questioning more, him or myself

"No, because I miss you even when I am in Dauntless." Our bodies so close together his breath washes over me, it smells of cinnamon. Our lips touch molding to each other hands moving over each other, I tremble when his hands move up my bare thighs.

"You need sleep," he just pulls me across his bare chest were my head rest my thigh crossing his midsection, he covers us, his fingers make motions over my back as I close my eyes, his steady heartbeat lulled me under.

I woke but don't move feeling Eric moving, he tries not to wake me a knock rang in my ears, his bare feet could be heard moving across the room, the creak of the door "What do you need?" his voice was volatile.

"A meeting in thirty," I knew it was a female Dauntless leader "Fine, leave now," the door shut I heard him dressing something being placed on the bed, his warm lips on my cheek as I lay on my belly as if I never woke up. "Sleep well love," the door shut a minute later. I moved when it was alight light outside, I moved out of bed, seeing his pants and a sweater. I shuffle to his bathroom needing to relieve my tiny bladder. I put on his sweater and noticed I didn't even need the pants, his sweater was like a dress on me. Maybe I was small. I used his brush to fix my mess of wavy hair. I jotted down a small note on a piece of paper.

" _Eric,_

 _I have never slept so peacefully, I'll miss your warmth and the way you hold me when I sleep tonight. Thank you. I'll miss you until I see you again, maybe even then. Thank you for lending me your clothes, your sweater goes half way down my thighs so I didn't need your pants._

 _~Love, Ava_

 _p.s. I doubt you'll be getting this sweater back."_

I made his bed before laying the slip of paper on the middle of the bed, his bed smells of cinnamon and musk. His sweater smelled the same.

I hurried trying to avoid anyone who might notice me leaving Eric's. I pull my leather pants on and my bra, leaving his baggy sweater on, it hangs off one shoulder showing my Dauntless tattoo. I hurry seeing Christina waving me over. "Where is Tris?'

"I don't know, she wasn't in her bunk?" she looked around.

I see four walk in, his eyes met mine then flick to the floor when his face begins to turn red. I look seeing Tris a second later, she walks close to the wall her head down, a large bruise covers her cheek, and the blood drains from my body.

What happened after I walked away? A growl forms in my chest, I was going to kill whoever did this to her. I was going to torture them and watch them beg for my mercy.

She sits next to me so I wrap my arm around her, she rest her head on my shoulder all three of us just stare at her for a moment, Al isn't here yet either. Uriah comes to our table, sitting, looking at Tris.

"What happened?" Will asks, lowering his voice.

Tris looks over her shoulder at the table behind ours. Peter sits there eating a piece of toast and whispering something to Molly. My hand clenches around the edge of the table. I want him to kill him, I wanted to torture him until I heard him begging for death.

But now isn't the time.

"Peter, Drew…," Tris says quietly. Tris holds her side as she reaches across the table for a piece of toast. It must hurts to stretch out her hand. "And…" she swallows back tears. "And Al."

"Oh God," says Christina, her eyes wide.

"Are you all right?" Uriah asks.

"I'm going to kill him"

"Not really," she says but my hands are shaking "Dead," I snarled out but everyone was ignoring my murderous plans.

"But you're just…" Uriah purses his lips. "It isn't fair. Three against one?"

"Yeah, and Peter is all about what's fair. That's why he grabbed Edward in his sleep and stabbed him in the eye." Christina snorts and shakes her head. "Al, though? Are you sure, Tris?"

"Yeah," she says. "I'm sure."

"It has to be desperation," says Will. "He's been acting…I don't know. Like a different person.

"I am sorry Tris, it had to have happened after I walked away."

"Don't be it wasn't your fault," her hand was over mine, feeling it shaking.

Then Drew shuffles into the dining hall. I drop my toast, and my mouth drifts open. Calling him "bruised" would be an understatement. His face is swollen and purple. He has a split lip and a cut running through his eyebrow. He keeps his eyes down on the way to his table, not even lifting them to look at Tris.

"Did you do that?" hisses Will.

She shakes her head. "No. Someone—I never saw who—found me right before…" she gulps, tears looked to be forming in her eyes. "…I got tossed into the chasm."

"They were going to kill you?" says Christina in a low voice.

"Maybe. They might have been planning on dangling me over it just to scare me." She lifted a shoulder, Four, it was Four, I look over at my brother his eyes meeting mine.

"Yep, I'm going to kill them all."

"It worked."

Christina gives her a sad look. Will just glares at the table.

"We have to do something about this," Uriah says in a low voice.

"What, like beat them up?" Christina grins. "Looks like that's been taken care of already."

"No, I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill them all. They deserve death."

"Ava, you are not murdering or torturing anyone. And no, that's pain they can get over," replies Uriah, I narrowed my eyes in a glare "We have to edge them out of the rankings. That will damage their futures. Permanently."

"Oh I got this," I smiled.

Four gets up and stands between the tables. Conversation abruptly ceases.

"Transfers. We're doing something different today," he says. "Follow me."

We stand, and Uriah's forehead wrinkles. "Be careful," he tells me.

"I won't be leaving her side," I give a nod "Don't worry," says Will. "We'll protect her."

Four leads us out of the dining hall and along the paths that surround the Pit. Will is on my left, Christina is on my right Tris nestled in-between us. We climb higher than I've gone before, until Will's face goes white whenever he looks down. I like heights so this didn't bother me and it didn't look to be bothering Tris either but she leans on Will, immediately I knew she was giving him support rather than getting support. He smiled gratefully at her.

Four turns around and walks backward a few steps—backward, on a narrow path with no railing.

How well does he know this place? Will I get to know this like him? It didn't seem likely.

He eyes Drew, who trudges at the back of the group, and says, "Pick up the pace, Drew!" It's a cruel joke, he deserves it. I wish I could push him down them and watch as his body breaks. A smirk pulls at my lips.

We get closer and closer to the glass ceiling, and for the first time in days, I see the sun. I must be much paler than I was before, any trace of a tan would be gone. Four walks up a flight of metal stairs leading through a hole in the ceiling, I watch as the others follow in mechanical motions. The stairs creak under my feet, I thought of how easy I could throw Peter or Molly or Drew down into the pit. I look down to see the Pit and the chasm below us, it would be so easy.

We walk across the glass, which is now a floor rather than a ceiling. I can imagine laying on this and watching people mill around people, those who are busy with their everyday lives. We mill through a cylindrical room with glass walls. The surrounding buildings are half-collapsed and appear to be abandoned, which is probably why I never noticed the Dauntless compound before, it was odd how hidden they were. The Dauntless mill around the glass room, talking in clusters. At the edge of the room two Dauntless fight with sticks, laughing when one of them misses and hits only air. Above me, two ropes stretch across the room, one a few feet higher than the other. They probably have something to do with the daredevil stunts the Dauntless are famous for. I wanted to do those stunts too, I wanted to feel the rush of adrenaline and feel everything become nothing.

Four leads us through another door. Beyond it is a huge, dark space with graffitied walls and exposed pipes. I thought the only artists came from Amity but in this room are graffitied pictures that I deem to be beautiful. The room is lit by a series of old-fashioned fluorescent tubes with plastic covers—they must be ancient.

"This," says Four, his eyes bright in the pale light, "is a different kind of simulation known as the fear landscape. It has been disabled for our purposes, so this isn't what it will be like the next time you see it."

I continue to look around the room, taking in the graffiti on the walls. On the wall behind Four the word 'Dauntless' is sprawled in red artistic lettering, I wish I could do that. Maybe they could teach me.

"Through your simulations, we have stored data about your worst fears. The fear landscape accesses that data and presents you with a series of virtual obstacles. Some of the obstacles will be fears you previously faced in your simulations. Some may be new fears. The difference is that you are aware, in the fear landscape, that it is a simulation, so you will have all your wits about you as you go through it."

That means that everyone will be like Divergent in the fear landscape. I don't know if that's a relief, because I can't be detected, or a problem, because I won't have the advantage.

Four continues, "The number of fears you have in your landscape varies according to how many you have." I sigh looking at Tris, angry with what they did to her.

"I told you before that the third stage of initiation focuses on mental preparation," he says. I remember that day, too bad he didn't pull the trigger and take Peter out of the game. It would have saved us a lot of trouble, would have saved me from killing his sorry ass.

"That is because it requires you to control both your emotions and your body—to combine the physical abilities you learned in stage one with the emotional mastery you learned in stage two. To keep a level head." One of the fluorescent tubes above Four's head twitches and flickers, I wonder how it has lasted this long. What is inside of them? Four stops, scanning the crowd of initiates and focuses his stare Tris and I couldn't help but make eye contact. I didn't like making eye contact unless I wanted to, it made everything feel more personal and everything less private.

"Next week you will go through your fear landscape as quickly as possible in front of a panel of Dauntless leaders. That will be your final test, which determines your ranking for stage three. Just as stage two of initiation is weighted more heavily than stage one, stage three is weighted heaviest of all. Understood?"

I wanted to die, how could we not get noticed with others watching? I was going to get killed, Tris was going to get killed.

"You can get past each obstacle in one of two ways. Either you find a way to calm down enough that the simulation registers a normal, steady heartbeat, or you find a way to face your fear, which can force the simulation to move on. One way to face a fear of drowning is to swim deeper, for example."

Four shrugs. "So I suggest that you take the next week to consider your fears and develop strategies to face them."

"That doesn't sound fair," says Peter. "What if one person only has seven fears and someone else has twenty? That's not their fault."

Four stares at him for a few seconds and then laughs. "Do you really want to talk to me about what's fair?"

I laughed, he had twenty you could tell, and I laughed, trying to cover it with a cough before hiding behind Christina. The crowd of initiates parts to make way for him as he walks toward Peter, he folds his arms, and says, in a deadly voice, "I understand why you're worried, Peter. The events of last night certainly proved that you are a miserable coward."

Peter stares back, expressionless. I smirk, Four saved her, Four beat them senseless.

"So now we all know," says Four, quietly, "that you are afraid of a short, skinny girl from Abnegation." His mouth curls into a smile, I wrap my arm around her as Christina's shoulders shake with suppressed laugher.

When we get back to the dorm that afternoon, Al is there. Christina moves closer to Tris, Will is with her, I am next to Tris as well, Al won't get close, he couldn't. Al's eyes have shadows beneath them, and his face is swollen from crying. I wanted to hurt him, how dare he cry. He wasn't the victim, she was, he tried to kill her.

"Tris," says Al, his voice breaking. "Can I talk to you?"

"Only if you have a death wish Al," I say looking him in the eyes he is taller by far but I will do what I have to "You don't get to come near her ever again." Will said next, his tone angry.

"I won't hurt you. I never wanted to…" Al covers his face with both hands. "I just want to say that I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I don't…I don't know what's wrong with me, I…please forgive me, please…."

He reaches towards Tris when I grab his wrist, its thick but my fingers bite into the sensitive flesh before he pulled it away.

"Stay away from me," Tris says quietly. Her small body feels rigid and cold under my arm, still she says in a low voice "Never come near me again."

Our eyes meet. His are dark and glassy, like he's already dead. A bad feeling settles into my stomach, something is off, something is going to happen. I don't know what it is but it was going to be bad.

"If you do, I swear to God I will kill you," we listen to Tris say. "You coward." She let out her rage, she had every right they meant to kill her. Deep down I felt it was my fault, I walked away with Eric, if I had been there it wouldn't have happened. I could have stopped them or Peter would have changed his mind.

"TRIS." I called but she was sleeping like the dead.

"Tris," I kicked her until she wakes up. Christina was shaking, her cheeks smeared with mascara tinted tears "It's Al" I say "Come on," I pull her from her bed.

We run barefoot over the cold stone floors, we head towards the Pit. Something has happened, something terrible. I knew it, I knew something bad would happen, why didn't I try to stop it?

A crowd has gathered around the ledge but everyone stands a few feet from one another so there is enough space for us to maneuver past some and around a tall, middle-aged man to the front.

Two men stand next to the ledge, hoisting something up with ropes. They both grunt from the effort, heaving their weight back so the ropes slide over the railing, and then reaching forward to grab again.

A huge, dark shape appears above the ledge, and a few Dauntless rush forward to help the two men haul it over.

The shape falls with a thud on the Pit floor. A pale arm, swollen with water, flops onto the stone. A body. His body. I choke on my breath, my heart dropping into my churning stomach. Christina pulls herself tight to Tris side, clinging to her arm. She turns her head into her shoulder and sobs, Tris stares at him. A few of the men turn the body over, and the head flops to the side. I stare at him, I stare into his dark glassy eyes that haven't changed since the time I saw him earlier.

The eyes are open and empty, dark, and glassy like doll eyes. My breathing is heavy but I cannot cry. His the nose has a high arch, a narrow bridge, a round tip, his lips are blue. His face is something other than human, half corpse and half creature. I should have known, I should have set my ager aside, I should have talked to him more, and I should have helped him. My lungs burn; my next breath shakes my body on the way in. Al, oh god Al.

"One of the initiates," says someone behind me. "What happened?"

"Same thing that happens every year," someone else replies. "He pitched himself over the ledge."

"Don't be so morbid. Could have been an accident."

"They found him in the middle of the chasm. You think he tripped over his shoelace and… whoopsies, just stumbled fifteen feet forward?"

"Oh can you at least shut up, we were his friends you assholes," I snapped out at the men, fire in my eyes.

Christina was clinging to Tris so tight but Tris says nothing, so I say nothing. Then someone kneels next to Al's face and pushes his eyelids shut. Trying to make it look like he's sleeping, maybe. Stupid. Why do people want to pretend that death is sleep? Death is permanent and painful, sleep is serene and relaxing. They were nothing alike. Why do they pretend there is only a thin line that separates the two?

"Come on Tris, let's go," I pulled her away as Christina let us go, Will took Tris's place and we just go, our feet carrying us. We end up sitting in Tori's tattoo station. Here you go," Tori says. She hands each of us a steaming mug that smells like peppermint. I hold it with both hands, my fingers prickle and sting with the sudden warmth.

She sits down across from us. When it comes to funerals, the Dauntless don't waste any time. Tori said they want to acknowledge death as soon as it happens. There are no people in the front room of the tattoo parlor, but the Pit is crawling with people, most of them drunk. It doesn't surprise me.

In Amity we value life and celebrate death, in a befitting manor. "Drink it," she says. "It will make you feel better, I promise."

"I don't think tea is the solution," Tris' voice is strained, it sounds painful. We both take a long sip, feeling the warmth spread through me, I didn't realize how cold I was.

"Fine, a little better,"

"Better isn't a word I use," Tris said.

"I don't think 'good' will happen for a while." She smiles, but the corners of her eyes don't crinkle like they usually do.

"How long…" Tris struggled for the right words. "How long did it take for you to be okay again, after your brother…?"

"Don't know." She shakes her head. "Some days I feel like I'm still not okay. Some days I feel fine. Happy, even. It took me a few years to stop plotting revenge, though."

"Why did you stop?" I ask, thinking of Four, I wouldn't stop not ever.

Her eyes go vacant as she stares at the wall behind us. She taps her fingers against her leg for a few seconds and then says, "I don't think of it as stopping. More like I'm…waiting for my opportunity."

She comes out of her daze and checks her watch.

"Time to go," she says.

We rise, dumping our leftover tea in the sink. I follow Tori out of the tattoo place and down the path to the Pit floor. All the people that were milling around earlier are gathered by the ledge now, and the air smells potently of alcohol. The woman in front of us lurches to the right, losing her balance, and then erupts into giggles as she falls against the man next to her. Tori grabs our arms and steers us away.

I find Uriah, Will, and Christina standing among the other initiates. Christina's eyes are swollen. Uriah is holding a silver flask. He offers it to Tris and me. I shake my head so does Tris, I don't want to be a stumbling idiot with a mask of false happiness.

"Surprise, surprise," says Molly from behind me. She nudges Peter with her elbow. "Once a Stiff, always a Stiff. I can't imagine a Softie touching the stuff," her words stopped as I hit her in her gut, she fell to her knees "Shut up,"

Eric is climbing onto a box next to the railing. I face him, crossing my arms to keep myself steady. I wonder what he'll say, I doubt I will agree.

"We do not know why," says Eric, "and it would be easy to mourn the loss of him tonight. But we did not choose a life of ease when we became Dauntless. And the truth of it is…" Eric smiles. If I didn't know him, I would think that smile is genuine. But I do know him, I know how cruel he is. Even now I know he is faking it all, I wanted to cry and scream but nothing comes out. Could I even go to him? How would he handle my emotions when it seems like he doesn't even have them. "The truth is, Albert is now exploring an unknown, uncertain place. He leaped into vicious waters to get there. Who among us is brave enough to venture into that darkness without knowing what lies beyond it? Albert was not yet one of our members, but we can be assured that he was one of our bravest!" I wanted to punch him, I wanted to throw him over the ledge. It wasn't brave, he wasn't brave. I don't know what he was, selfish? Cruel? I don't know, he left us with the burden of this new pain.

A cry rises from the center of the crowd, and a whoop. The Dauntless cheer at varying pitches, high and low, bright and deep. Their roar mimics the roar of the water. Christina takes the flask from Uriah and drinks. Will slides his arm around her shoulders and pulls her to his side. Voices fill my ears. "We will celebrate him now, and remember him always!" yells Eric. Someone hands him a dark bottle, and he lifts it. "To Albert the Courageous!"

"To Albert!" shouts the crowd. Arms lift all around me, and the Dauntless chant his name. "Albert! Al-bert! Al-bert!" They chant until his name no longer sounds like his name. It sounds like the primal scream of an ancient race. It doesn't sound like the boy I knew, the boy who cried so hard he shook the bed and woke the others, the boy who was gentle despite is size, the boy who was desperate but unwilling.

"Are they joking Tris?"

"No, I don't think so" her sad gaze met mine, I shook my head and a sad smile found its way onto my lips.

Four was walking with us "They are watching you two, both of you," but I pulled away "I will talk with you later Tris."

I was heading to the dorm when Eric caught up with me "Ava, I saw you leave,"

"So, I rather not hear about a coward," I spat the word like venom "You talked about him like he was a hero, brave. He killed himself because he couldn't deal with what he felt, he couldn't handle what he did to Tris! He was not brave, he was anything but brave!"

"Peter, Drew, and _him_ " venom and hatred and pain weighed heavy on my tone "tried to toss my best friend into the Chasm, tried to kill her because she is better than them. How brave is he if he couldn't deal with what he had done, he should have left Dauntless Eric. What if it had been me Eric? If I hadn't just walked away I would have suffered the same fate as Tris, you should have seen how Peter acted in the dorms. You would have struck him down the minute he touched me."

"I only said what had to be said, it doesn't mean I take any real beliefs in it Ava. I may not care for the Stiff but I care for you, he was a coward and deserved to die like one. I'll be sure to have another talk with Peter, I guess the first time wasn't enough," anger glinted in his cold eyes and fear rose in my stomach and filled my throat until I couldn't breathe.

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	9. One Choice 9

**Yes I am writing this chapter listening to trust company-downfall. I own nothing only Mrs. Roth does so no money is being made, so let's get on to the story shall we…Reviews are like cookies and let's be honest everyone likes cookies… So yes I knew at some point Ava was going to get called a Mary sue in a review, not only because she had an equal aptitude for each faction, but also being a prodigy like Four, if this is a problem please just stop reading. I think with the way she was raised, who her real parents are, who her brother is, made her who she really is, real mother was Erudite, real father was Abnegation, raised in Amity, was taught her whole life not to lie, she was naturally brave like Dauntless.**

I stand overlooking the Chasm with Christina, Tris, and Will. We all got new tattoos a half hour ago. Tori was the only one in the tattoo place, so I felt safe getting the symbol of Amity a tree with leaves in many colors blowing off, it was her best work yet, or so she said. Tris also got hands, palms up as if to help someone; the symbol for Abnegation.

Christina holds every paper the Erudite has release about Abnegation, it was the only way we thought to help her. We all knew that this wouldn't make it all disappear but Tris agreed it would help her. She stands looking over the barrier, I can guess what she is thinking. But I push all thoughts of Al out of my head, he made his choices and now we live with the repercussions, that's how suicide is. Passing along your pain to others, pain has to be felt, pain has to be accepted.

"Hand me one Chris," I say she smiles handing me the first one, on it is a picture of Jeanine, the Erudite representative, just my luck. Her sharp grey eyes stare back at me, they would be beautiful, alluring, if she wasn't so horrible.

"Have you ever met her?" I ask Will since this women was the one Eric was meeting that night, they were hunting my kind. It hurt to know that he was aiding in the killing of divergents but I had to remind myself that he didn't know I was one and hope that if he knew he'd give up on the whole operation. Tris looks over at the picture, I whisper "This was the other voice," her blue eyes go widen.

"Jeanine? Once," he replies. He is tearing a report into small shreds as Christina crumples another before tossing it in, Tris does the same watching the black water swallow the trash and drown the lies. I can hope they have fallen on deaf ears but I know otherwise, Erudite has ruined Abnegations god name, ruined Tris' fathers' name.

"Before she was a leader she worked with my sister. They were trying to develop a longer-lasting serum for the simulations," he says. "Jeanine's so smart you can see it even before she says anything. Like…a walking, talking computer." Will says. I scrunch up my nose making a sour face. Being that smart would have its advantages but at what cost?

"Well, she sounds like a robot with no emotions if she can actually believe all this trash she has printed," I climb the barrier tossing papers over with malice like Christina.

"I don't know. Maybe it's a good idea to have more than one faction in control of the government. And maybe it would be nice if we had more cars and…fresh fruit and…"

"You do realize there's no secret warehouse where all that stuff is kept, right," Tris says her voice tense with emotions, she looks angry. She has every right to be, they were selfless, and it was easy to see. I've seen them help the factionless. I look over when a thought hits me; I think of her as a sister, like Chris.

"Yes, I do," he says. "I just think that comfort and prosperity are not a priority for Abnegation, and maybe they would be if the other factions were involved in our decision making."

"Because giving an Erudite boy a car is more important than giving food to the factionless," she snapped, I couldn't blame her for being upset. He wasn't bringing up very good points, he seemed rather selfish.

"Hey now," says Christina, brushing Will's shoulder with her fingers. "This is supposed to be a lighthearted session of symbolic document destruction, not a political debate."

"Yeah come on, we are family now. Don't you think we should act like it," I say, water was hitting my feet. I wondered what the chasm would look like with calm waters, what could be hidden down there?

"All that stuff she said about your dad, though," He says, "makes me kind of hate her. I can't imagine what good can come of saying such terrible things."

We just toss ripped paper into Chasm, laughing as they fade into the black water. I was balanced on the railing when a deep voice made my heart hammer into my chest. "Do you think that's wise Ava, we just lost Albert to the roaring waters of the Chasm now I see you flirting with death." I was holding on to the railings, my heart thumping wildly, Tris and Christina took hold off my arms to keep me from slipping off.

"Well if you wouldn't come from nowhere and scare me," I shook my head seeing Eric striding toward us looking rather angry "I can deal with this," I turned, it was Four.

I was in trouble either way "I think I can deal with this Four," Eric smiled as I climbed down "How about, nothing happens. I was just sitting, its bed time anyways," I offered.

They both looked at me with anger, I looked to Tris for some help but she looked to Four "Will, Christina leave," Four said, his voice giving away his calm rage. They rushed off, a little too eager to be away from this situation. "I wouldn't just leave you!" I said to their backs, I can imagine them smirking and making a remark if Eric and Four weren't standing here.

"Tris and Ava let's go," Four said so we started to follow "No Ava, you will not disobey a direct order from a Dauntless leader. I told you will be punished, I have asked you three times to refrain from acting in such a manor near the chasm, but here I see you half into it. Four you may take the Stiff but this initiate can't listen for the lift of her."

"Well a few minutes of her time," Eric gave a nod, I walked over "I swear, he might kill me Tris," I whispered.

"Ava, Tris will explain everything in detail, I was going to show you how to manipulate the fear landscape. I could only take one at a time anyway. I will check on you after, he has taken too much of an interest in you. I watch you, he watches you every second he has free and some he doesn't, either he knows what you are, he wants to hurt me, or he likes you. I don't like any of those options," Four said touching my hand feeling it shake.

"Enough talking,' Eric said "Meet me in the showers," Tris hugged me then I spun on my heel walking towards Eric, his anger was frothing under the surface.

I watched Four and Tris go towards the Pit, Four looking over his shoulder at us every few seconds. "I swear Ava, move your ass now," he seethed pushing the middle of my back moving me forward.

"I don't know where we are going," I said back "My place," I gave a smile as I walked taking every turn correctly. Before long we stood outside the door, he opened it letting me in, someone had to have seen us by now but it was that late so I doubt anyone would make a move to stop him. Well, everyone other than my brother.

I wanted to be with Tris and Four, learning how to make it out alive but here I was with my boyfriend, my rather deadly, hot boyfriend, who was most likely the one who was going to kill me. "So nothing I say matter's Ava?" he questioned me, his arms crossed over his chest as I looked up at him.

"Eric, I was playing around. It wasn't meant to be a blow to your authority." I say.

He just removes his jacket setting it down before walking away to the small bathroom, I sit on his bed. He takes everything I do as a personal blow. It bothered me. When he walked he was dressed in pajama bottoms, he was walking over to me still upset; you could see it in his body, the way it was tense. "From now on, just stay on the right side of the Chasm," but his voice off, he was in a foul mood, it might not even have to do with me I just set it off.

"Eric, what's wrong? It wasn't just seeing me fooling around over the Chasm," I touched his chest my fingers trailing over the tattoos. His cold dark eyes looking into mine "Your training is nearly over, soon you'll be a member one of us. Then we don't have to hide us anymore," he wasn't answering me.

"Do you not trust me Eric? You never talk to me," I looked away as if it hurt me, I knew it worked when I heard his deep sigh "It's not that love, its, well I'm not supposed to. All I can say is we are looking for Divergent's."

"Are Divergent's dangerous?" I looked into his eyes again "To our factions, yes, Jeanine has us looking for them. Either to kill or test on. It all comes down to their brains and how they work different from ours, she is working on a serum so she needs them to test it on," he said rubbing my knee.

"How do you feel about Divergent?"

"Is isn't a game Ava, but since you asked. I understand Jeanine's logic but I also understand that it really doesn't matter that their brains don't work like ours, it doesn't make them any worse soldiers," he shrugged.

I wanted to tell him, but I don't think I could trust him with the information, not yet anyway.

You could see Eric was tired, I pulled him down even though his body was massive compared to mine. "You look so tired," I mumbled kissing his neck "I am," it was more of a growl, forming in his chest and working its way out.

I kissed him like this was our last night together, and in the back of my mind it lingered that any night might be our last. His body responded to mine like it was natural, as if we have been together for more than a few short weeks, his hands run up my body before tangling into my mess of waves and curls, pulling me closer to his warm lips.

I pulled away enough to remove his sweater, letting him see just a little more of me his eyes linger on the once tan skin, it isn't pale but not tan somewhere in the middle. I closed my eyes when his lips touched my throat moving his way down, it was slow and pleasurable. Feeling his tongue tracing invisible lines I couldn't hold back my moans any longer, he turned my body with such speed it left me breathless.

"You are so beautiful Ava," his lips came back down to mine, my neck would have a mark, he was to rough.

Eric lay back his head on the single black pillow, my head on his chest his fingers moving over my back but I wasn't sleeping here, it would be noticeable that I never returned to my bunk. I looked at him in the blue light, his face was peaceful, his lips slightly parted, he didn't look so cruel but actually sweet and innocent. I knew I was falling for him, he was smart, caring, and brave but he was cruel and selfish. I slipped from the prison of his arms he didn't move, I didn't risk writing him a note, I just took his sweater leaving him sleeping wishing I could stay in his arms.

I make a left turn "He wasn't a wise choice Ava," Tori was waiting for me "I didn't have a choice Tori, once Eric made up his mind I was his. I am scared every time we are together, scared my brother will hate me, scared my brother will kill Eric," I was near tears when she pulled me into her arms.

"Your brother?"

"Four," I whispered "I thought so, something about the way he spoke to Eric. I overheard things. Just be careful Ava," she squeezed my shoulder before walking off.

I walked across the pit heading towards the Chasm, but I stopped seeing Tris and Four, all I was thinking was FINALLY!

He touched her face, she doesn't move at all, like when Eric first did that with me, like time was held, frozen. Four brushes his lips to hers, I should look away, or leave but I have no other way to the dorm, I see my brother pull away with a small grin before his hands hold her small face his lips press against hers. It only takes a minute before she wrap's a single arm around him the other moves up his neck, I felt ill seeing this, this must be because he is my brother.

I wait giving them a minute before I have to speak up "I hate to break this up, since Four finally made his move. But Tris we have to go to bed," I smiled leaning on the railing as they moved a part looking flustered.

"Oh hi Ava," Tris was all smiles.

"Tobias, stop calling me Four Ava," he said, was that all he was going to say? I gave a nod "Tobias," I smiled.

"What did Eric do as a punishment? Or do I need to go check the log?" I sighed "They log that in?" Tris says.

"Yes, I knew Ava got five lashes." Now his voice was tense "I wasn't punished Tobias. He just yelled at me, like normal, always yelling," I rolled my blue eyes.

"We should go," Tris understood taking my hand kissing Tobias on the cheek "Night Tobias," I gave him a hug before running off with Tris.

"So, I caught you kissing my brother," I smiled "And I caught you, that's not your sweater. It smells like Eric, and what's that Ava?" Tris moved my hair, I tried to stop her but she laughed "Did he punch you?"

"No," I laughed "Oh Tris I am so happy, you and my brother, we are like sisters now," I hugged her, it was a good night, but deep down I knew Eric wasn't going to be happy when he woke finding me gone.

"You know Tris, you and Tobias can't tell anyone yet,"

"I hadn't thought of that," I hated hearing her sad, but it was the truth.

The next morning we dress in our clothes, I left my hair down leaving the leather jacket in my chest, it was hot. I was happy, happy for Tris and Tobias, happy with Eric, happy period.

Tris even wore her new shirt that cut across her shoulders and showed off her tattoo's, I had on a new top as well it was a black crisscross crop cami top. Christina wasn't always a morning person, Will was happy though as he touched her shoulder giving her a warm smile. 

"What is it with you today?" Christina asks Tris who can't help but smile, I perfected the whole not smiling every time Eric walked into the room situation. You could look at Chris and see she has just woken up, she is still groggy from sleep.

"Oh, you know," she says. "Sun shining. Birds chirping." Tris smiles.

"Tris we are in an underground tunnel," I grin she slaps my shoulder as Chris just raises her brow at us.

"Let the girl be in a good mood," Will says. "You may never see it again."

We sit "So Christina, I think you would look good with a nose ring so we are getting one," I say she gives me a look.

"Are you serious Ava?"

"Yes, I am,"

"Fine,"

"Great,"

"I will come with you, but none for me," Tris said but I think she should at least get her ears done.

We eat, Tris is munching on toast as I bite into an apple, Tris is bouncing in her seat her eyes darting around "Calm down, remember what I said last night," she gave me a single nod. But was I wrong, maybe because Eric was a Dauntless Leader and myself just an initiate no one could know yet, Tobias wasn't a leader.

Uriah sits next to us "Hey ladies,"

"Morning," Tris smiles but her eyes are on Tobias when he walks through the door, she waves but he doesn't make any eye contact "I told you Tris," but still it affects her, her smile is gone.

"Today's fear landscape day," says Will. "You think we'll get to see our own fear landscapes?"

"No." Uriah shakes his head. "You go through one of the instructors' landscapes. My brother told me."

"Ooh, which instructor?" says Christina, suddenly perking up.

"You know, it really isn't fair that you all get insider information and we don't," Will says, glaring at Uriah.

"Like you wouldn't use an advantage if you had one," retorts Uriah.

Christina ignores them. "I hope it's Four's landscape."

"Doubtful, he seems too private. He wouldn't allow such a thing," I wave Chris's idea off "Hey, I can hope," she slam's her toast down.

"Well Chris, taking it out on your toast won't help," Will winks.

I look over at Tris who is looking at Four, his eyes move to her's, then way. "He has to act this way," I tried to assure her "Please believe me, he cares," she looked into my eyes.

"I trust you,"

"I trust you too Tris," I answered without even having to think.

We stood cleaning our trays before filing out, heading to Tobias and Lauren, I hung my arm over Tris "Ava, your neck? What happened?" Christina gasped moving my hair, Tobias's head snapped to us his eyes narrowing as Tris stepped in front of me blocking his view.

"Later Chris, not right here,"

"Oh you have some explaining to do," she smiled poking at me as Tris laughed "Is something funny ladies?" we all turned Eric and Max walked the stone halls as we were about to start the climb to the fear landscape.

His eyes are trained on me, daggers, he was so angry "Well ladies, what's so funny." 

"We were just laughing Sir," Christina tried "I doubt intimate," he growled she moved back everyone watching us.

"Fine, they were picking on me, because I am as tough as cotton balls," I said as Max smiled "You are much tougher than cotton balls Ava, come on Eric," he smiled at me.

"See told you girls, more like silk," I smiled as they laughed, Will joined in "I will deal with you later,"

"What have I done now Eric?"

"Don't play stupid Ava, it doesn't suit you," then he was gone as I let out a breath "Now that everything is over, now we may continue," Lauran said giving me a dirty look, great she won't like me.

"I swear to Eric I breathe wrong," I kicked a small pebble.

Lauren, the instructor of the Dauntless-born initiates, stands with her hands on her hips outside the fear landscape room.

"Two years ago," she says, "I was afraid of spiders, suffocation, walls that inch slowly inward and trap you between them, getting thrown out of Dauntless, uncontrollable bleeding, getting run over by a rain, my father's death, public humiliation, and kidnapping by men without faces."

Everyone stares blankly at her.

"Most of you will have anywhere from ten to fifteen fears in your fear landscapes. That is the average number," she says.

"What's the lowest number someone has gotten?" asks Lynn, I bump her with my hip causing her to smile.

"In recent years," says Lauren, "four."

I winked at Tobias, as Tris finally made eye contact with him he trains his eyes to the floor, now I see how he got the nickname Four. "You will not find out your number today," says Lauren. "The simulation is set to my fear landscape program, so you will experience my fears instead of your own."

I grin at Chris, who huffs, I look to Tris who just smiles but it doesn't reach her eyes "Hey, stop this. I have been hiding my relationship for weeks, you won't have to for much longer," it was a whisper but I notice Tobias's watching us, I glare at him so he understood I was angry.

"For the purposes of this exercise, though, each of you will only face one of my fears, to get a sense for how the simulation works."

Lauren points to us at random and signs us each a fear. I laughed, she was afraid of spiders, I wasn't, I had one as a pet his name was Mr. Fluffykins. I groaned seeing Tris got kidnapping, after what Peter and his minions did I doubt it would be pretty.

"Ava," Tobias calls as I walk up, I was in a room here in Dauntless spiders everywhere, crawling over every surface, but I wasn't scared. Reaching out one crawled up my arm, they are more scared of you than you are of them. I laughed setting it on the floor seeing it scurrying away. When I woke up "Not afraid," Lauran grumbled at me "I have done nothing for your ire," I snapped "Eric," was all she whispered.

"What does the Dauntless leader have to do with this?" I questioned her she just sighed walking off.

"See all about being calm Chris," I smiled as she groaned still shaking a little.

Tris is struggling, tears soak her face, and all we can do is watch. "Stop," Tobias shouts as Lauren turns it off.

Tris drops to her knees as Chris and I rush forward to her "What the hell was that Stiff?" I shove my own brother helping Tris up from the floor.

"I…" She tries "I didn't—" she tries again but its rage coming as she looks at Four, I am pretty angry too, calling her a Stiff. She has proven she is Dauntless, she has proven that she's better than that nickname.

What comes from his mouth next makes me fume with anger "Get yourself together! This is pathetic."

"You bastard," I jump at him when arms come around me, Uriah and Lynn, he looks at me. But Tris smacks him so hard, the sound echoes around the room, one side of his face bright with blush-blood, she stares at what she has done. They let me go, stunned.

"Shut up," Tris says and she walks from the room with me behind her "Chris meet us later," she gives us a nod.

The sun shines bright on our faces as we leave the compound, this is asking for massive trouble, but the fresh air feels good. "Where are we going Tris, cause no way in hell you are going alone," I mutter, she has a faint smile as she looks around and runs her hands through her hair trying not to cry.

The loud blare of the train horn can be heard as it loops around the Dauntless compound "I need to see Caleb," she braids her hair tying it with a rubber band.

"Alright," we ran with the train before launching ourselves on just lying there "We have to go back and face the repercussions of leaving," I look over "I know,"

The wind rushes by us our legs dangling out of the last car, seeing the small building as the train slows as it reaches the heart of the city. The Erudite live in large stone buildings that overlook the marsh.

The Train is down to street level just before they bend to travel east. I breathe in the smell of wet pavement and marsh air. The train dips and slows, and we jump one right after the other we walk down the middle of the street together heading south, toward the marsh. The empty land stretches as far as I can see, a brown plane colliding with the horizon.

We have to turn left. The Erudite buildings loom above us, dark and unfamiliar "How will we find your brother here?"

"I have no clue."

The Erudite keep records; it's in their nature. They must keep records of their initiates. Someone has access to those records; we just have to find them. So we scan the buildings. Logically speaking, the central building should be the most important one. I guess we may as well start there.

The faction members are milling around everywhere. Erudite faction norms dictate that a faction member must wear at least one blue article of clothing at a time, because blue causes the body to release calming chemicals, and "a calm mind is a clear mind." The color has also come to signify their faction. It seems impossibly bright to me now, seemingly every color was.

"Blue isn't my color," I mused causing Tris to snort "I don't think it would look good on me either," we smiled walking. I noticed the crowed moves away from us in our Dauntless clothes, their eyes cling to us as we pass them, I plaster a blank stare with a 'I will cut you' smile on.

As we walk through the front doors just inside the entrance and tilt Tris tilted her head back. The room is huge, silent, and smells like dust-covered pages. The wood-paneled floor creaks beneath our feet. Bookcases line the walls on either side of us but they seem more decorative than anything because computers occupy the tables in the center of the room and no one is reading. They stare at screens with tense focused eyes.

I should have known that the main Erudite building would be a library, it held knowledge and that is what they valued most. A portrait on the opposite wall catches my attention. It is twice my height and four times my width and depicts a blonde woman with watery gray eyes and spectacles—Jeanine. My heart beats faster at the sight of her, I wanted to burn that portrait. She has spread lies to get what she wanted, made innocent people look like the worst people in the world. But they weren't, they were good people who didn't deserve the name she was giving them.

Because she is Erudite's representative beneath her is a large plaque that reads "KNOWLEDGE LEADS TO PROSPERITY."

I point to the desk so we walk up to the desk just beneath Jeanine's portrait. The young man sitting behind it doesn't look up as he says, "How can I help you?"

"I am looking for someone," Tris say. "His name is Caleb. Do you know where I can find him?"

"I am not permitted to give out personal information," he replies blandly as he jabs at the screen in front of him.

"He's my brother." She tries again.

"I am not permi—"

I slam my palm on the desk in front of him, and he jerks out of his daze, staring at us over his spectacles. Heads turn in my direction. What is with these damn Erudite's and glasses? I can't imagine Eric wearing them, maybe if I ask nicely. I fought off my smile.

"I said." Tris's voice is terse. "I am looking for someone. He's an initiate. Can you at least tell me where I can find them?"

"Beatrice?" a voice behind us says, only her brother would still call her that.

We turn and Caleb stands behind us, a book in hand. His hair has grown out from when I met him so it flips at his ears, and he wears a blue T-shirt and a pair of rectangular glasses. She runs at him, tossing her arms around him, he hugs her back awkwardly.

"You have a tattoo," he says, his voice muffled.

"You have glasses," I just listen to Tris and narrow my eyes. "Your vision is perfect, Caleb, what are you doing?"

"Um…" He glances at the tables around us. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

We exit the building and cross the street. I have to jog to keep up with him. Across from Erudite headquarters is what used to be a park. Now we just call it the "Millennium," and it is a stretch of bare land and several rusted metal sculptures—one an abstract, plated mammoth, another shaped like a lima bean that dwarfs me in size.

We stop on the concrete around the metal bean, where the Erudite sit in small groups with newspapers or books. He takes off his glasses and shoves them in his pocket, then runs a hand through his hair, his eyes skip over Tris' nervously. As if he was ashamed but Tris looked sure of herself and what she has become.

"What are you doing here?" he says, he gives me a look "Hello," he smiles "Hey there, Caleb." I smile.

"Tris, we can't be long," I say, she gives me a nod.

"I just need to see you, I wanted to go home and you were the closet thing I could think of," she said wringing her hands together.

He presses his lips together.

"Don't look so pleased to see me," Tris added on, her day was going pretty shitty.

"Hey," he says, setting his hands on her shoulders. "I'm thrilled to see you, okay? It's just that this isn't allowed. There are rules." I bulked I knew this, but I wasn't about to stop her.

"I don't care," she says. "I don't care, okay?"

"Maybe you should." His voice is gentle; he wears his look of disapproval. "If it were me, I wouldn't want to get in trouble with your faction."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I know exactly what it means. He sees our faction as the cruelest of the five, and nothing more.

"I just don't want you to get hurt. You don't have to be so angry with me," he says, tilting his head.

"He just doesn't like our Faction Tris," I smiled he gave me a look but didn't disagree.

"What happened to you in there?"

"Nothing. Nothing happened to me." I close my eyes and rub the back of my neck with one hand, I felt weird and like I was intruding. Maybe I should walk away.

"You think…" He looks at his shoes. "You think you made the right choice?"

"I don't think there was one," she says. "How about you?"

I think this is boring but its Tris, people stare at us as they walk pass, his eyes skim over them. We walk beneath its hollow underbelly. I see my reflection everywhere, warped by the curve of the walls, broken by patches of rust and grime. But they talk and I listen.

"What's going on?" Tris says, she just folds her arms. Her brother looks like crap, he has dark bags under his eyes, as if his sleep is disturbed.

"What's wrong?" she presses him for information.

Caleb presses a palm to the metal wall. In his reflection, his head is small and pressed in on one side, and his arm looks like it is bending backward.

"Something big is happening, Beatrice. Something is wrong." His eyes are wide and glassy. "I don't know what it is, but people keep rushing around, talking quietly, and Jeanine gives speeches about how corrupt Abnegation is all the time, almost every day." His eyes move to me as if I am not trust worthy enough.

"Do you believe her?"

"No. Maybe. I don't…" He shakes his head. "I don't know what to believe."

"Yes, you do," Tris was fiercely protective "You know who our parents are. You know who our friends are. Susan's dad, you think he's corrupt?"

"How much do I know? How much did they allow me to know? We weren't allowed to ask questions, Beatrice; we weren't allowed to know things! And here…" He looks up, and in the flat circle of mirror right above us, I see our tiny figures, the size of fingernails. That, I think, is our true reflection; it is as small as we actually are. He continues, "Here, information is free, it's always available."

"This isn't Candor. There are liars here, Caleb. There are people who are so smart they know how to manipulate you."

"Don't you think I would know if I was being manipulated?"

"If they're as smart as you think, then no. I don't think you would know."

"You have no idea what you're talking about," he says, shaking his head.

"Yeah. How could I possibly know what a corrupt faction looks like? I'm just training to be Dauntless, for God's sake," I laughed hearing Tris say it. "At least I know what I'm a part of, Caleb. You are choosing to ignore what we've known all our lives—these people are arrogant and greedy and they will lead you nowhere."

His voice hardens. "I think you should go, Beatrice. And take your friend as well," his eyes on me.

"Typical Erudite," I moved forward seeing Caleb move away from me.

"With pleasure," I say.

"Oh, and not that it will matter to you, but Mom told me to tell you to research the simulation serum." Tris snapped at her brother, if you could call him such a thing, or mine even.

"You saw her?" He looks hurt. "Why didn't she—"

"Because," she snaps. "The Erudite don't let the Abnegation into their compound anymore. Wasn't that information available to you?"

"Come on Tris," I pulled her as she pushed passed Caleb nearly knocking her brother to the floor. The crowd on the sidewalk thins, I look up to see why. Standing a few yards in front of us are two Erudite men with their arms folded.

"Excuse me," one of them says. "You two ladies will have to come with us."

"Why in the hell would we?" I spat.

"Just stay calm," Tris said.

One man walks a little too close to me, so close I can feel his breath against the back of my neck. The other man leads us into the library and down three hallways to an elevator. Beyond the library the floors change from wood to white tile, and the walls glow like the ceiling of the aptitude test room. The glow bounces off the silver elevator doors and suddenly I miss the darkness of the compound.

I try to stay calm. I envision kicking the man's knee and using him to flying kick his friend. I imagine running. I wish I had a gun or a knife, anything to feel secure. These are Dauntless thoughts, and they have become mine. Eric is from here, he still comes here, and they come to the Dauntless compound. Why? Because of divergents?

But right now all Tris and I can do is follow them down the glowing corridor and into an office. The walls are made of glass—I guess I know which faction designed my school.

A woman sits behind a metal desk. I stare at her face. The same face dominates the Erudite library; it is plastered across every article Erudite releases. How long have I hated that face? I don't remember, oh wait yes I do. Forever.

"Sit," Jeanine says her smile was fake "I rather not," Tris says but Jeanine in a more firm tone insists "Sit," Tris does as she's told, I stand my arms behind my back.

"Sit," she looks at me "I am not a dog, I will stand until this meeting is finished," my blue eyes hold her watery grey.

"It was your voice in the simulation," Tris says.

"The aptitude test, you mean." I corrected her.

"Correct. The aptitude test is by far my greatest achievement as a scientist," she replies. "I looked up your test results, Beatrice. And yours as well Ava. Apparently there was a problem with your test. It was never recorded, and your results had to be reported manually. Did you know that?"

"No."

"No."

"Did you know that you're one of two people ever to get an Abnegation result and switch to Dauntless? And Ava the only Amity ever, how impressive,"

"No," Tris flinched a little.

"May I ask you ladies what made you choose Dauntless?"

"What does this have to do with anything?" I try to soften my voice, but it doesn't work. "Aren't you going to reprimand me for abandoning my faction and seeking out my brother? 'Faction before blood,' right?" Tris said instead of answering her question.

"Come to think of it, why are we in your office in the first place? Aren't you supposed to be important or something?" I smiled at her.

Her mouth pinches for a second. "I will leave the reprimands to the Dauntless," she says, leaning back in her chair.

"As to the reason for both of your presence here…a quality of my faction is curiosity," she says, "and while perusing both of records, I saw that there was another error with another one of your simulations. Again, it failed to be recorded. Did you know that?"

"How did you access my records? Only the Dauntless have access to those." I snarled out, she is lying, that's all that there is too it.

"Because Erudite developed the simulations, we have an…understanding with the Dauntless, Ladies" She tilts her head and smiles at me. "I am merely concerned for the competence of our technology. If it fails while you ladies are around, I have to ensure that it does not continue to do so, you understand?"

"The liquid made me ill, maybe the person administering my test was worried I'd be ill again and forgot to record it," I said before she could talk to Tris again.

"Do you habitually have a sensitive stomach, Beatrice," Her voice is like a razor's edge. She taps her trimmed fingernails against the glass desk.

"Ever since I was young," she lied as smoothly as possible.

"I am impressed with you Ava," was all she said to me.

"You both have been extremely successful with the simulations," she says. "To what do you attribute the ease with which you complete them?"

"I am fearless, I am the best they got," I smirked like Eric "I am Brave," added Tris "I am only second to Ava,"

I know what she really wants, but is Tris strong enough to do it, that answer comes soon enough.

"You want to know why I chose Dauntless?" Tris asked that Erudite bitch. "It's because I was bored." Further, further. Lies, require commitment. I couldn't imagine her pain at telling them.

"I was tired of being a wussy little do-gooder and I wanted out."

"So you don't miss your parents?" she asks delicately.

"Do I miss getting scolded for looking in the mirror? Do I miss being told to shut up at the dinner table?" I shake my head, just the same as Tris does, as if I am agreeing with her "No. I don't miss them. They're not my family anymore."

"Can I take that to mean…" Jeanine purses her lips and pauses for a few seconds before finishing. I want to punch her, I want to hurt her, Knowing that she is the one who released them makes me want to strangle her. Maybe Dauntless can pull her bloated body from the Chasm.

"…that you agree with the reports that have been released about the political leaders of this city?"

I smile, she is going to die.

"Wholeheartedly," Tris says.

"Ava, why did you leave Amity? It's unheard of, your results are Erudite," her eyes on me.

"So? I am rather smart, a little too smart. I liked Amity just fine, nothing for you to report on, I just found something in Dauntless I can't live without," I said my face blank.

"Prey tell what is that Ava,"

"It's none of your concern,"

"Please take these ladies back to the Dauntless compound," she smiled to one of her lackeys. Tris walked ahead of us I felt her behind me, I turned "I am smart enough to see passed your lies even if Tris can't. You want fuel for Abnegation, you don't care about your technology. I don't know what you're after, but it isn't us or that shit wouldn't have made us sick." Her eyes bore into mine, like a rabid animal, before she controls it.

"Ava, you would have done very well here,"

"I know, I would have done better than you," with that I walked to Tris so one of Jeanine's lackeys, a man in a blue collared shirt and sunglasses, drives us back to the Dauntless compound in a sleek silver car, the likes of which I have never seen before.

"So, we are so dead when we get back, like dead, me more than you," I say she gives me a look "Thank you, thank you for coming, it was good not to be alone," Tris says we just sit, waiting for our doom.

Oh that bitch. Eric is waiting for us by the door. He takes my arm and leads me into the building without thanking the driver. Eric's fingers squeeze so hard I know I'll have bruises. Tris is lucky, he just drags her but not as hard, she looks scared still, I am near tears. He stands between me and the door that leads inside. He starts to crack his knuckles. Other than that, he is completely still.

I shudder involuntarily.

The faint pop of his knuckle-cracking is all I hear apart from my own breaths, which grow faster by the second. When he is finished, Eric laces his fingers together in front of him.

"Well hello girls, welcome back home," but he looks anything other than welcoming.

"Eric."

He walks toward me, carefully placing one foot in front of the other Tris moves back, I want to bolt as far from him as possible.

"What…" His first word is quiet. "Exactly," he adds, louder this time, "were you thinking?"

"I…" He is so close I can see the holes his metal piercings fit into. "I don't know."

"I am tempted to call you a traitor, I know I have mentioned faction before blood many times. Oh and never to leave the fucking compound!" he bellowed. He is not a maniac anymore; he is perfectly controlled, perfectly poised. Careful and quiet.

For the first time, I recognize Eric for what he is: an Erudite disguised as a Dauntless, a genius as well as a sadist, a hunter of the Divergent. My love, my boyfriend, oh. I wanted to cry.

"Were you unsatisfied with the life you have found here? Do you perhaps regret your choice?" Both of Eric's metal-ridden eyebrows lift, forcing creases into his forehead. "I would like to hear an explanation for why you betrayed Dauntless, yourself, and me…" He taps his chest. "…by venturing into another faction's headquarters."

"I, I just," Tris tried but Eric was scary right now.

"If you cannot explain," he says softly, "I may be forced to reconsider your rank. Or, because you seem to be so attached to her…perhaps I will be forced to reconsider your friends' ranks. Perhaps the little Abnegation girl beside you means you will take it more seriously," my first thought was he couldn't do such a horrible thing, my second thought is he would.

"Eric, please. Tris was very upset, I wasn't going to let her go alone, please don't take it out on her ranks. It's not fair, we are very happy here, she just needed to vent."

Eric was looking at me with cold calculating eyes.

"So the Stiff was upset," he spat I stumbled back "Eric," as Tris tried again "I,"

And then the door opens. Tobias walks in he has to see the fear in our eyes.

"Leave the room," Eric says, his voice louder and not as monotone. He sounds more like the Eric I am familiar with. His expression, too, changes, becomes more mobile and animated. I stare, amazed that he can turn it on and off so easily, and wonder what the strategy behind it is. Tris looks ready to run to Tobias, I wouldn't stop her he sees us standing together.

"No," Tobias says. "They are just foolish girls, one helping the other. There's no need to drag them here and interrogate them."

"Just a foolish girl which one, your sister, or the stiff," Eric snorts. "If she were just a foolish girl, she wouldn't be ranked first and the Stiff second, now would they"

Tobias pinches the bridge of his nose and looks at me through the spaces between his fingers. He is trying to tell Tris something, I already said I wasn't letting her go alone.

"I…I was just embarrassed and didn't know what to do." I look at her from the sides she sticks her hands in her pockets, before her looks up sniffling as if she is really crying.

"I tried to…and…" she mutters looking away.

"You tried to what?" asks Eric.

"Kiss me," says Tobias. "And I rejected her, and she went running off like a five-year-old. There's really nothing to blame her for but stupidity. As for my sister she ran off with her little friend as normal, can't blame her,"

We both wait Tris and I looking at each other.

Eric looks from Tris to Tobias and laughs, too loudly and for too long—the sound is menacing and grates against me like sandpaper. "Isn't he a little too old for you, Tris?" he says, smiling again.

"Excuse me Eric?" I ask, looking up at him he looks down "How old are you Eric, aren't you and Four the same age?" I snarled out.

Tris looks to be wiping a tear. "Can I go now?" she cut off of conversation.

"Fine," Eric says, "but you are not allowed to leave the compound without supervision again, you hear me?" He turns toward Tobias. "And you… had better make sure none of the transfers leave this compound again. And that none of the others try to kiss you."

Tobias rolls his eyes. "Fine."

"But Ava, you are staying,"

"No, she is done as well. If Tris isn't in trouble than why would Ava,' Tobias's says not wanting to leave me with Eric.

"Oh, because she was told never to leave the compound again. This was Tris first warning, your sisters second."

"Ava,"

"Four, its fine take Tris to the dorm. I don't regret what happened," I gave Tris a small smile as they walked out but Four his eyes are narrowed with such dislike.

"God damn you woman, I swear you will be the death of me," this was Eric, my Eric.

"First off, I wake seeing you gone, no note nothing just gone. Then lunch you and Tris, gone, your friends can't find you. Imagine this I get a message from Jeanine Matthews, about you and Tris. She was rather impressed with you, other than you can't keep your mouth shut, but she gathered it was more for Tris than anything. So what did you find here worth leaving Amity, now she just has to know" he was seething by the time he finished.

"I found family, Tris and Four. And most of all, Eric, I found you." His was stunned, he stood there looking at me saying nothing, doing nothing.

"I dislike Jeanine Matthews, I could see through her lies with ease. But it isn't my place to question some Erudite uptight bitch. And what's this about, Tris being too young for my brother, you and Four are the same age Eric, as are Tris and I,"

"I was just saying that to goat Four, how long have you known he was your brother?"

"Since the day you asked if I knew him, it made me think. I asked him, told him I would get you to tell me what was going on."

"I left last night because it would have been rather noticeable I wasn't in my bunk, I'd rather be in your arms just understand that Eric."

"I want you there, every day and night. I was scared, I hate that word, I loathe it but I was. I couldn't find you, only when I got the message I was able to breathe, then I was so angry, I told you not to leave again."

I walked over standing on tiptoe wrapping my arms around his waist "Eric, kiss me," I whispered. He did and with such passion, it made a ball form in my stomach, heat rolled over me. His lips warm tasting of chocolate, a sharp pain flared as he bit on my lower lip pulling, tugging before deepening the intense kiss his tongue sliding over mine. My fingers moving over his neck, over parts of his shaved sides than back down, giving a harsh bite to his own lip, but all he did was groan, pushing me against the stone wall.

His hands on my bare waist as his lips moved to my neck his mark already there "Eric, why does Lauren hate me because of you," I pant catching my breath as I licks the rim of my ear before nibbling on it, making me cry out.

"I used to fuck her," was all he said as if it was nothing and to Eric it was nothing "That's disgusting to say such crude words, she cared to be so upset still,"

"I didn't, she knew that. I only care about you, I can't help but fall for you every day," his lips moved back to mine this time just soft kisses.

"Go back to the dorm, I will see you in a little you also need to eat. I have a meeting," he kissed me again.

I ran out, running down the stone halls, heading right towards the dorms seeing Tris talking to Christina "Finally, I couldn't find you either. Eric the maniac was searching high and low for you girl,"

"Yeah, he threatened to toss my skinny Amity ass into the Chasm if I didn't start listening," I smiled laying on her bunk with her eyeing Tris.

"Good," she says. "Because I have something to tell you two,"

She looks over my head at the door and then stands on her tiptoes to see all the bunks—checking if they're empty, probably.

"Now can you two be girls? Just for a few moments," she smiled as Tris grinned "Last time I checked, which is every time I shower, I have always been a girl," I answered her she just slapped my shoulder.

"You know what I mean. Like a silly, annoying girl."

Tris twirls her hair around her middle finger. "'Kay." I laughed.

Christina grins so wide I can see her back row of teeth. "Will kissed me." I grinned.

Tris lived up to girls everywhere "What?" She demand. "When? How? What happened?"

"You can be a girl!" Christina straightens. "Well, right after Tris little episode, we ate lunch and then we walked around near the train tracks. We were just talking about…I don't even remember what we were talking about. And then he just stopped, and leaned in, and…kissed me."

"Did you know that he liked you? Because I could tell you both liked each other, little touches here and there," I say. "I mean, you know. Like that." Tris adds

"No!" She laughs. "The best part was, that was it. We just kept walking and talking like nothing happened. Well, until I kissed him. "

"How long have you known you liked him?"

"I don't know. I guess I didn't. But then little things…how he put his arm around me at the funeral, how he opens doors for me like I'm a girl instead of someone who could beat the crap out of him."

"That's good for you and Will, you two look cute together,"

"I'm happy for you guys,' Tris hugged her.

"Now Ava, your neck," I groaned "Christina, I don't want to lie, I also don't want you thinking Eric is playing favorites, because he is Satan to me as well as you." I said in more of a grumble as she jumped up from the bed.

"YOU AND ERIC!" her eyes wide "Shut up Christina" Tris giggled.

"You didn't see the way he acted when we walked back into Dauntless nearly ripped her arm off, I swear I thought he was going to kill you." Tris defended me.

"No it's not that Tris, we all see how good Ava is. It's just its Eric," but the conversation stopped. We sit looking around happy, I had Eric, Christina had Will and Tris had Tobias and Peter had his hand.

Some of the initiates have already packed their things. Soon we'll move into apartments on the other side of the compound. It was weird to think about that, Chris and Tris would no longer be arms reach away.

Those with government jobs will move to the glass building above the Pit. I won't have to worry about Peter attacking me or Tris in our sleep. We won't have to look at Al's empty bed and be reminded of his actions. We won't be near Peter and all the people who snore or talk in their sleep.

"I can't believe it's almost over," Tris says. "It's like we just got here. But it's also like…like I haven't seen home in forever." Christina muses.

"You miss it?" I lean into the bed frame.

"Yeah." Christina shrugs. "Some things are the same, though. I mean, everyone at home is just as loud as everyone here, so that's good. But it's easier there. You always know where you stand with everyone, because they tell you. There's no…manipulation."

Christina leaves "Be back, I'll bring food back,"

"Good I am too lazy," I am on her bunk laying my legs sore but once she leaves I sit up "I swear he was going to toss me into the Chasm Tris,"

"I have to meet Tobias at 11:30. He wants you to come, but he knows Eric is watching you or having Jeb watch you, no way you'll make it out. He loves you so much, he told me. We kissed again, you were right, we can't show it. And about the fear landscape it's about solving it like a dauntless, how would they escape," I gave her a nod.

"I never have any fun with my brother, once I am a member Eric can't stop me. Promise to tell me everything," her smile says it all.

"Promise,"

"Can Eric be nice?"

"At times, he tries most of the time. The night you stayed at Fours, I stayed at Eric's, he left early for a meeting, and he thought I was still sleeping. He placed a sweater and pants at the end of his bed, kissing my cheek saying 'Sleep well love' before leaving," she smiled.

"Wow that was sweet." She looked as she was trying to imagine Eric doing such a thing "I wish I had more time with Tobias's," I said seeing sadness creep into her face.

I walked the corridors after Tris slipped out if I was out Jeb or Eric wouldn't watch her, my feet carried me. "Hello Ava, out for an evening walk?" it was Max.

"Good evening Max. Yes, I am having a nice walk before bed." I smile.

"Tomorrow is a big day the initiation ceremony and the finial test. How are you holding up?" Max questioned, why was he so interested?

"I am looking forward to it sir, I am already Dauntless in my heart," he placed his hand on my shoulder "Good," he walked away leaving me with my thoughts.

I notice Jeb "Jeb come here," I smile, he was seventeen "Sorry," he muttered "Where is Eric?"

"Had to leave the compound for a little," I sighed "Okay, is there any cake?"

"I will get you some,"

"I will be in the dorm," I walked off.

I was in bed eating cake with Christina when Tris ran in her face flushed "I told you, no running in the halls,"

"I am a rebel,"

Later she told me everything, my head was spinning, I couldn't go to Eric he was a part of this. Erudite was going to use Dauntless as a weapon against Abnegation, Evidently the Erudite now want to speed up the process. I have no idea what to do about it…or what could even be done if anything. They could coerce some of us into fighting with misinformation or by appealing to greed—any number of ways. But the Erudite are as meticulous as they are manipulative, so they wouldn't leave it up to chance. They would need to make sure that all their weaknesses are shored up. But how?

Something is nagging in the back of my mind, Will, something he said before, I can't place my figure on it.

 **Thanks for reading and have a good night, please review…I think one last chapter, do you guys even want a sequel?**


	10. One Choice 10

**Thanks for reading, I didn't think it would only be ten chapters, I feel stupid. If you guys want me to do Insurgent either PM or review. I have them written out, it is different from the book at times the ending different. So this is the last chapter, sad, sad times. Thanks for reading and please review… I own nothing and no money has been made.**

I have attended Amity's initiation ceremony every year, obviously except this one. It is a not quiet affair, music fills the air, laughter rings, and it is a joyous time. The initiates, who harvest the fields, work with the elders, have the trials set, their emotions varied. We drink, laugh and eat, it's hard to fail in Amity.

The Dauntless don't do that.

Initiation day plunges the Dauntless compound into insanity and chaos, more so than usual. There are people everywhere, and most of them are inebriated by noon. It doesn't surprise me when I run into a drunk member, for some it's when they're happiest, but Tris still looks surprised each time. I fight my way through them to get a plate of food at lunch, Tris and I have to carry it back to the dormitory. On the way we see someone fall off the path on the Pit wall and, judging by his screams and the way he grabs at his leg, he broke something.

"Nice landing," I mutter, feeling sick.

The dormitory, at least, is quiet. I stare at my plate of fruit and cake, well it looked good when I made my choices. "This is going to be a rough day," I moan, just leaving my plate.

"Well, we signed up for this,"

"Actually, we jumped for it," I took a chunk of cake as she ate her plain chicken.

We wait in here, not needing to be out there where Dauntless are drunk and acting like idiots, only an hour passes before Christina walks in "Time to go," she says. She looks ashen.

"Best friends right?" I ask.

"Forever," Christina smiled as Tris continued "Always," her black leather jacket done to her neck.

We walk out together, I knew my fears, I have been going over and over them every night thinking of every way to remove myself from them in the most Dauntless style I could imagine.

We walk to the Pit and up the path that leads to the glass building. I look up at the glass ceiling. I can't see daylight because the soles of shoes cover every inch of glass above us. For a second I think I hear the glass creak, but it is my imagination. I walk up the stairs with Christina and Tris. I can see a series of screens on the wall to my left. I hear a cheer and stop to look at the screens. The screen on the left shows a black-clothed girl in the fear landscape room—Marlene. I watch her move, her eyes wide, but I can't tell what obstacle she's facing. Thank God no one out here will see my fears either—just my reactions to them. But who is in that room, is Eric? I don't want him seeing them at all.

The middle screen shows her heart rate. It picks up for a second and then decreases. When it reaches a normal rate, the screen flashes green and the Dauntless cheer. The screen on the right shows her time.

The room is large and contains another screen, similar to the one outside. A line of people sit in chairs in front of it. Eric is one of them, and so is Max. "Oh no, not Eric, not him," I stumble back.

"He is in your fears?" Christina said with pity, I gave a nod "You will be fine," Tris rubbed my shoulders, but her pale face said she understood more than she let on.

The others are older. Judging by the wires connected to their heads, and their blank eyes, they are observing the simulation.

"Hey girls, I have two legs one for each of you," Uriah winks "Tempting," Tris says "I'm okay, I like to stand,"

"I would but Tris hates being left alone," I smirk.

The lights lift in the fear landscape room, revealing Marlene in a crouch, her face streaked with tears. Max, Eric, and a few others shake off the simulation daze and walk out. A few seconds later I see them on the screen, congratulating her for finishing.

"Transfers, the order in which you go through the final test was taken from your rankings as they now stand," Tobias says. "Ava is ranked first so she will go first, Drew will go last since he ranked last,"

"Oh joy, I am first," I take off my jacket cracking my neck "Be brave Ava," Tobias's kisses my forehead. I walk in leaving my jacket on a chair, smiling at Tris. She will be next. The metal chair waits for me, Eric stands there with a needle in his hands.

I sit "I know you will do well, love," his dark eyes on my pure blue ones "I hope I do Eric, just don't be mad at what you see,"

"Ava, please don't tell me," sadness was what I saw, then he brought up his hand I see the syringe it is filled an orange liquid "Its time,"

I barely feel the needle as it plunges into my neck, barely see Eric's handsome pierced face as he presses the plunger down. I am strong, I am brave, and I am Dauntless.

I wait, not knowing the order my fears will manifest themselves in. I only come armed with a plan. Suddenly I am sitting tied to a chair, hearing the cries of the people I love, Tobias's, Tris, Johanna, Christina, and Eric all shouting to me before the shadow comes, he is dark and menacing with the dagger, even as he drags it over the uneven stone walls.

"I told you to stay away from him," Tobias's calls out, the man smiles I see the whites of his teeth, the dagger in his hands as I stand my feet not bound, I land a good kick. The dagger is on the ground, I let myself fall onto it cutting the ropes freeing myself. Then I turn, facing the man when it turns into Eric, his darker half, I stab him.

All I can see is water, I don't think I know, I start swinging my small body, the point is to face your fear. I swing to the point my hands grasp the rope I hang from, I climb, before untying myself. The water shoots up covering me but I am no longer afraid, its water, it is nature, it is beautiful like the Chasm. I stand in Amity this was the worst but I knew, I knew.

Johanna.

I walked seeing her talking to the faction when they notice me "My child, why have you come?"

"You don't belong here."

"I don't love you, you're not my child, not of my blood,"

I stood straight "I am Dauntless now, they are my family, faction before blood." I knew I had Eric to thank for that. That was the hardest but easiest.

I sat in Candor in black and white "Your birth mother died, she was unfortunately a terrible women. Was exiled from her faction. Your brother was raised by his father. Now your real father, was Abnegation as well, but how selfless was he to screw another man's wife? Your mother and father are scum of the earth," his voice rang out, I couldn't ever see the man.

"I don't care, it doesn't reflect on me, or who've I've grown to be. I was raised in Amity, I have many people who love me, my brother, my friends, and my boyfriend. They don't care who my parents are and frankly neither do I," I stood up but it changed within a blink of an eye. I was in Eric's apartment.

"Hello love," his wicked smile that I so loved flashed, he was only in his pajama pants, and I was in his sweater. His eyes dark and cold but his lips warm against mine "I want to tell my brother," I smiled in between kisses.

"Good, I can get one up on him," stimulation Eric grins at me.

"Eric stop, I am not leverage with Four." His kisses became rough as I pushed him, but he was strong he tossed me on the bed covering my body with his. "How do you think he'll react when I tell him I've had sex with his baby sister?" But like I once told Tris, every man had the same weakness. I rammed my knee up his eyes went wide, I punched him in the face.

The lights come on. I stand alone in the empty room with the concrete walls, my hands shake but I can't stop them so I sit on them. My chest hurts, but I can breathe, my head pounds. I just want to sleep. I can hear the door, I hesitate to look up, but I do seeing Tobias, Max, Eric and a few others I haven't seen before walk into the room in a line, standing in a small crowd in front of me. Tobias smiles at me.

"Congratulations, Ava," "You have successfully completed your final evaluation. And something tells me your time will not be beat," Max smiled.

"Thanks," but my hands are still shaking so bad "Tobias get the next initiate," Eric said, yes he was angry, this was his god damn it Ava voice.

"Come over this way Ava," Eric smiled I walked over he looked down at me "Are you okay Ava?"

"I can't stop shaking Eric" without thought he grabbed my hands holding them "You aren't a game, you are mine. I think I love you," his eyes bore into mine.

Eric looks over, a woman with blue hair hands him a small black case. He opens it and takes out a syringe and a long needle.

I tense up at the sight of it. The orange-brown liquid in the syringe reminds me of what they inject us with before simulations. And I am supposed to be finished with those.

"This will inject you with a tracking device that will be activated only if you are reported missing. Just a precaution."

"Eric," I say, this isn't right, he doesn't look at me. "This is a new development, courtesy of the Erudite. We have been injecting every Dauntless throughout the day, and I assume all other factions will comply as soon as possible." But his eyes bore back into mine, I hold my neck.

"All right," I say, my throat tight.

Eric approaches me with the needle and syringe in hand. He pulls my hair away from my neck and I tilt my head to the side. I look away as Eric wipes my neck with an antiseptic wipe and eases the needle into my skin. The deep ache spreads through my neck, painful but brief. He puts the needle back in its case and sticks an adhesive bandage on the injection site.

"The banquet is in two hours," he says. "Your ranking among the other initiates, Dauntless-born included, will be announced then. Good luck love, but with five fears and your time you won't need it,"

I stay with Christina and Will, Tris has run off with my brother, I have become a third wheel, I think that is the term used. Soon enough I see them walk together as I jump up "Like I said, never invite me,"

"We were kissing," she smiled "Okay now I am glad I wasn't invited," I said, my arm over her shoulder. So Tris and I walk in together and my brother a minute behind us when Christina came up to us "Where were you?" asks Christina. "Everyone else went back to the dormitory."

"I just wandered around," Tris says. "I was too nervous to talk to everyone else about it."

"You have no reason to be nervous," Christina says, shaking her head. "I turned around to talk to Will for one second, and you were already done."

"What job are you going to pick?" I ask her. I could hear her jealously yet again.

"I'm thinking I might want a job like Four's. Training initiates," she says. "Scaring the living daylights out of them. You know, fun stuff. What about you?"

"I guess…I could be an ambassador to the other factions," Tris says. "I think being a transfer would help me."

"I am going for a Dauntless-leader-in-training," I say. Christina laughs. "Because that's what Peter wants? He couldn't shut up about it in the dorm earlier."

"And it's what I want," adds Will. "Hopefully I ranked higher than him…oh, and all the Dauntless- born initiates. Forgot about them." He groans. "Oh God. This is going to be impossible."

"No, it isn't," she says. Christina reaches for his hand and laces her fingers with his, like it's the most natural thing in the world. Will squeezes her hand.

"Oh you two are just so cute," I laugh poking her "Just like you and" I punched her once she gasped holding her arm "Who?" Will asked but she just laughed.

"No one, Will," Tris laughed.

A microphone squeals somewhere, so loud I clap my hands over my ears. I look across the room at Eric, who stands on one of the tables with the microphone in hand, tapping it with his fingertips. After the tapping is done and the crowd of Dauntless is quiet, Eric clears his throat and begins.

"We aren't big on speeches here. Eloquence is for Erudite," he says. The crowd laughs. I wonder if they know that he was an Erudite once; that under all the pretense of Dauntless recklessness and even brutality, he is more like an Erudite than anything else. He didn't look like an Erudite but he acted like one. If they did, I doubt they would laugh at him. He was cruel and brave like a Dauntless but as smart as an Erudite. He could be sweet and kind but he's only shown me that side. He was handsome, the best looking man I've ever seen, with a body any woman would die to get their hands on.

"So I'm going to keep this short. It's a new year, and we have a new pack of initiates. And a slightly smaller pack of new members. We offer them our congratulations."

At the word "congratulations" the room erupts, not into applause, but into the pounding of fists on tabletops. The noise vibrates in my chest, and I grin.

"We believe in bravery. We believe in taking action. We believe in freedom from fear and in acquiring the skills to force the bad out of our world so that the good can prosper and thrive. If you also believe in those things, we welcome you."

I know Eric probably does believe in any of those things deep down, even though they have been forced out of him, I find myself smiling, because I believe in them. No matter how badly the leaders have warped the Dauntless ideals, those ideals can still belong to me, and they can still belong to all of us.

More pounding fists, this time accompanied by thunderous cheers.

"Tomorrow, in their first act as members, our top ten initiates will choose their professions, in the order of how they are ranked," Eric says. "The rankings, I know, are what everyone is really waiting for. They are determined by a combination of three scores—the first, from the combat stage of training; the second, from the simulation stage; and the third, from the final examination, the fear landscape. The rankings will appear on the screen behind me."

As soon as the word "me" leaves his mouth, the names appear on the screen, which is almost as large as the wall itself. Next to the number one is my picture, and the name "Ava" I smile and a tingling spreads through me. First. Divergent or not, this faction is where I belong.

I forget about war; I forget about death. Will's arms wrap around me and he gives me a bear hug. I hear cheering and laughing and shouting. Christina points at the screen, her eyes wide and filled with tears. Tris cheers hugging me tight as I hug her back.

1\. Ava

2\. Tris

3\. Uriah

4\. Lynn

5\. Marlene

Peter stays. I suppress a sigh. But then I read the rest of the names.

6\. Peter

7\. Will

8\. Christina

9\. Drew

Will and Christina kiss, behind us Uriah shouts loud I turn seeing Tris and Tobias kissing, I smile clapping.

But then I am air born, I am in Eric's arms "My number one,"

"Your only one, buddy," I kissed him, that is when the room falls silent but he just kisses me back, his hands wrapped around me as firmly as mine are around him.

"TOBIAS NO," was screamed "Get your hands off my sister," Tobias was so angry.

"You mean my girlfriend," Eric smiled at him when Max came "Enough," his eyes looking between them.

"Ava, what job will you be liking?" Max smiled "Dauntless-leader in training," I smiled back making sure I got the job I wanted.

"I will make a note, you have that job young lady. Eric we have a meeting," He walked off.

"I have to go love," he kissed me on the lips "I love you," he kissed me once more before walking off.

I looked at them, I already put things together, and Cara Will's sister was working with Jeanine before. "We need to talk," I say.

My head spins

One: Colored serum contains transmitters.

Two: Transmitters connect the mind to a simulation program.

Three: Erudite developed the serum.

Four: Eric and Max are working with the Erudite.

My own boyfriend who just told me he loved me injected me with this.

I touch Tris neck were Eric injected her, I watch as she puts it together, her hand flies to her neck. We can't get Tobias alone, everything's chaos. I want to get lost in this chaos, I wanted to make the serum disappear from everyone.

I am so exhausted, I fall asleep lying next to Tris. I wake to squeaking mattresses and shuffling feet. It's too dark for me to see clearly, but as my eyes adjust, I see that Christina is tying her shoelaces. My stomach churns and heart thumps wildly when I see her face. Her eyes are open, but blank, and her facial muscles are slack. She moves without looking at what she's doing, her mouth half-open, not awake but seeming awake. And everyone else looks just like her. Like they're being controlled, like they're still asleep.

"Tris, wake up," I shake her after looking around, making sure no dauntless leaders were around.

"What's going on?" she looks at them her face mirrors mine, we get up "If we don't mirror them they will know we are Divergent Tris, they'll kill us on site."

"Hurry," she fumbled with her boots as I dressed in record time.

We try to do as they do, to match their movements but it's hard, we can't expect what they will do next. We march toward the Pit, but when we reach the entrance, the front of the line turns left. Max stands in the hallway, watching us. My heart hammers in my chest and I stare as vacantly as possible ahead of me, focusing on the rhythm of my feet. I tense as I pass him, desperately trying to keep my breathing calm and my face slack. He'll notice. He'll notice I'm not brain-dead like the rest of them and something bad will happen to me, he'll kill me. Tris won't let that happen, she'll try to help and they'll kill her too.

Max's dark eyes pass right over me next they pass over Tris, it feels like a weight has been lifted. He doesn't know, we're doing well so far.

We climb a flight of stairs and travel at the same rhythm down four corridors. Then the hallway opens up to a huge cavern. Inside it is a crowd of Dauntless. There are rows of tables with mounds of black on them. I can't see what the piles are until I am a foot away from them. Guns.

I mentally sigh, I should have expected this.

Of course. Eric said every Dauntless was injected yesterday. So now the entire faction is brain-dead, obedient, and trained to kill. Perfect soldiers. I pick up a gun and a holster and a belt, copying Christina, who is directly in front of me. I try to match her movements, but I can't predict what she's going to do, but I don't do anything wrong.

Once I'm armed I follow Christina and the other initiates toward the exit, Tris is behind be near Will. I can't go to war against Abnegation for many reasons, Tris' family is there, and there wasn't a logical reason to do it either. I didn't want to be a murderer. As the staircase turns, light flows into the cavern until I can finally see Christina's shoulders in front of me again. I focus on not drawing attention to myself, I reach the top of the stairs, passing another Dauntless leader. Now I know who the Dauntless leaders are because they are the only people who are awake.

Well, not the only people. I must be awake because I am Divergent. And if I am awake, that means Tobias is too, unless Tris and I have been wrong about him.

I have to find him, or Tris has to, it has to be one of us.

We wait as the train cars fill up, a blank-faced Dauntless in the next car offers a hand to Christina who waits in front me, and she takes it, her movements robotic. I take the next hand without looking at it, and climb as gracefully as I can into the car.

I stand facing the person who helped me. My eyes twitch up, just for a second, to see his face. It is blank, Gabe.

I stand in line, now I have to wait, Tris doesn't get on this car, and I start to worry. People crowd into the car around me, so we stand in four rows, shoulder-to-shoulder. I don't know how long I've been standing there, but my body aches, so it must have been a long time. The train screeches to a stop, and my heart pounds so hard it's difficult to breathe.

Then we start to jump off, the building and roads are filled with Dauntless soldiers. Abnegation faction members are being pulled from their homes, pulled into the streets, I kept my eyes forwards. I wished I knew where Tris lived, I could help her family, but the roads…nothing here was familiar to me. Dauntless soldiers, all marching at the same rhythm except the officers, who stand every few hundred yards, watching me walk by, or gathering in clusters to discuss something. No one seems to be doing anything.

I walk another mile or so when gunshots start to ring out, Abnegation members fall, the Dauntless are taking orders without hesitation and without question. I turn seeing no soldiers except Eric, Tris, Tobias, and the only female Dauntless leader, her name doesn't come to mind.

I stay in the shadows listening and watching Eric shifts a step to the side and leans close to Tobias's face, grinning.

"Now, this is a happy sight," he says. "The legendary Four. No one's going to remember that I came in second now, are they? No one's going to ask me, 'What was it like to train with the guy who has only four fears?' How does it feel to know I love Ava, and she loves me? I guess we will never know, huh?"

He draws his gun and points it at Tobias's right temple. My heart pounds so hard I feel it in my skull. He can't shoot; he wouldn't. Eric tilts his head. "Think anyone would notice if he accidentally got shot?"

"Go ahead," the woman says, sounding bored. She must be a Dauntless leader if she can give Eric permission, but again he is a Dauntless Leader he doesn't need permission. "He's nothing now."

"Too bad you didn't just take Max up on his offer, Four. Well, too bad for you, anyway," says Eric quietly, as he clicks the bullet into its chamber.

I see Tris's hand move, at the same time as Tobias's, Tris pressed the barrel to Eric's forehead. His eyes widen, and his face goes slack, and for a second he looks like another sleeping Dauntless soldier.

"Get your gun away from his head, Eric," Tris says.

"You won't shoot me," Eric replies.

"Interesting theory," she shoots but he moved to fast, but his gun is now diverted from my brother.

"Nice try," the girl smiles "We can't let a single Divergent slip through our fingers, I can't believe it, the Stiff,"

"Well two Stiffs," Eric said his gun out, I fired; a thin line of dark red blood poured from the Dauntless leaders head, her knees buckled, then her body crumpled to the floor.

"TRIS, TOBIAS, RUN DAMN IT!" I screamed. Eric, his gun held up. He shot once hitting Tris in her shoulder, I fired hearing his scream, blood pouring from his shoulder "Ava, come on," Tobias called but I aimed at Eric, looking at him.

"Do you still love me Eric? I am a Divergent. I am what you have been hunting, what you have to kill. How could you do this to me, try to make me a mindless murderer, to let me have the guilt of their deaths on my soul?" I let the tears fall, seeing the guy I had fallen in love with bleeding, knowing he was supposed to kill me. Maybe even wanted to kill me.

"Run Ava, get far from here. I love you, forever. I had to inject you, they would have noticed if I hadn't," he was on his feet, as I ran, I didn't stop running for what seemed like an hour, until I see dull grey running, I follow.

My back against the wall, my gun down, my knife was out as I rounded the corner my heart dropped I had my knife against Mrs. Priors neck "Oh I am sorry," I pulled it away "Tris," my eyes wide as I wrapped my arms around her "I am sorry Ava, they took Tobias," she cried.

"Girls, there isn't time for this," we turned seeing her mother her face blank "Here they come," she says, looking around the corner. I peek over her shoulder and see a few Dauntless with guns, moving to the same beat, heading toward us. Her mother looks back. Far behind us, another group of Dauntless run down the alley, toward us, moving in time with one another.

"This is what we do, we run." I fired hitting one dead seeing his body fall as Tris fired her mother was ready to give herself up "I am so glad you two have each other, to take care of each other. Promise me girls, you will."

"I promise," Tris said but "This isn't the way Mrs. Prior, but Tris is like my sister I wouldn't have to promise."

"Go to your father and brother. The alley on the right, down to the basement. Knock twice, then three times, then six times." She cups Tris cheeks. "I'm going to distract them. You have to run as fast as you can."

"No." Tris shake her head. "I'm not going anywhere without you." Tears fall, my heart breaks for them. I miss Johanna.

She smiles. "Be brave, Beatrice. I love you. Ava, be brave, take of my baby,"

She gives Tris a kiss to the forehead then I feel her lips on my forehead and then she runs into the middle of the street, I grab Tris under the arms pulling her back tears steak my face. Mrs. Prior holds her gun above her head and fires three times into the air. The Dauntless start running.

We sprint across the street and into the alley. As I run, I look over my shoulder to see if any Dauntless follow but we notice they are too distracted by Tris' mother to take any notice of us.

Go in peace and love Mrs. Prior may God watch over you.

Tris snaps her head back when gunshots ring through the air, I turn my heart feels ready to explode, and my feet dig into the ground in a dead stop. Tris grabs my arm, we see her mother, so brave, loving, and selfless. She stiffens, her back arching. Blood surges from a wound in her abdomen, dyeing her shirt crimson. A patch of blood spreads over her shoulder. She falls, first to her knees, her hands limp at her sides, and then to the pavement, slumped to the side like a rag doll. She is motionless and without breath.

I cry, tears in hot streaks fall from my face, I want to scream and kill them as Tris covers her mouth to hold back her screams, I see her mother, as my visions gets blurry it changes to Johanna.

"We have to move Tris, we have to be brave now," I choke on my own tears, on my own words. She looks at me "If you know them aim for the knee or shoulder, hit them in the head after, don't kill our friends Tris. This is all Erudite's fault,"

Now we have to run with three Dauntless on our heels, they run in unison, their footsteps echoing in the alley. One of them fires, and I dive, scraping my palms on the ground. The bullet hits the brick wall to my right, and pieces of brick spray everywhere. I throw myself around the corner and click a bullet into the chamber of my gun, Tris next to me she gives me a firm nod.

They killed her mother. I point the gun into the alley and fire blindly. It wasn't really them, but it doesn't matter—can't matter, and just like death itself, can't be real right now. Just one set of footsteps now. I hold the gun out with both hands and stand at the end of the alley, pointing at the Dauntless soldier.

Tris finger squeezes the trigger, but not hard enough to fire. The man running toward her is not a man, he is a boy. A shaggy-haired boy with a crease between his eyebrows. Will. Dull-eyed and mindless, but still Will. I fire taking down the burly older man, his body falls leaving one other than Will "Tris, no its Will think of Chris," I yelled.

She shoots, his scream fills the ally but he falls to the ground as I fire hitting the Dauntless women, we move seeing Will writhing on the ground "I am sorry Will," Tris cried before kicking him in the face, I bent down using my black bandana to tie off his wound in his leg, no need to bleed out right here.

"We have to keep moving, Eric said to get as far from here as possible,"

"He let you go?"

"I shot him Tris, he still let me go. But now I have to find my brother before we head to Amity, it will be safe there for a little,"

"Okay come on, first we have to get my brother and father," we travel she has to look for her barring's North and Fairfield. We stand just yards away from the building that contains what's left of Tris's family.

"Stay here Tris," she was covered by the alley as I moved making sure no Dauntless are patrolling the area, my eyes scan sweeping from left to right, nothing. I waved for her to come out she moves to the door she pounds on the door—twice, then three times, then six times, as her brave mother told her to, her mother was Dauntless to the very end, it's the little acts of bravery.

I was in my leather pants with my black crisscross crop cami top, my leather jacket was dropped next to Will so he could understand who helped him. The door opens, and Caleb stands in the doorway.

"Move, we can't be lingering in open doorways," I spat letting Tris move in ahead of me my eyes doing a final sweep of the streets, before shutting the door. I see Caleb hugging his sister "Be careful, she was shot,"

"Beatrice. Oh God, you got shot?"

"Yes," she says as we moved further into the building.

The room is dimly lit, there are faces. None I know, other than Marcus from the Choosing Ceremony "How did you know about this place?" Caleb says. "Did Mom find you?"

Tris gave a nod to her brother.

"My shoulder," Tris says as I move forwards, taking her jacket off. She falls to her knees, I just wrap an arm around her "Hey it will be okay Tris," but she sobs, I just hold her, it's all I can do.

A women rolls a pallet out, another face brings a lamp to provide light, I don't know these people but Tris must because she doesn't recoil from them "Why are you wet?" Caleb asked Tris.

"They tried to drown me," was all she could say "Why are you here?" I ask, last we saw he was all up in Erudite gear.

"I did what Tris said—what our Mom said. I researched the simulation serum and found out that Jeanine was working to develop long-range transmitters for the serum so its signal could stretch farther, which led me to information about Erudite and Dauntless…anyway, I dropped out of initiation when I figured out what was happening. I would have warned you but it was too late," he says. "I'm factionless now."

"No, you aren't," a middle aged man says sternly, I guess this man is their father. "You're with us." But yet he looks at his daughter as if she has two heads.

"Tris I have to leave, shut down the system, and find my brother. I have no clue what they are doing to Tobias," but she tries to move "Wait I am going with you Ava," Marcus stumbled back earning a glare from Tris.

"Fine,"

Caleb cuts a piece of Tris' shirt away from the top shoulder with a pair of medical scissors. Caleb peels the square of fabric away, revealing first the Abnegation tattoo on her right shoulder and second, the three birds on her collarbone. Caleb and Mr. Prior stare at both tattoos with the same look of fascination and shock but say nothing about them.

Tris just has to lay flat and not move as Caleb squeezes her palm I watch as their father gets the antiseptic from the first aid kit.

"Have you ever taken a bullet out of someone before?" I ask, I rather her not be in pain.

"The things I know how to do might surprise you," he replies.

"This will hurt," he says. Obviously it will, he's taking a bullet out of her fucking shoulder.

 **Tris's point of view…**

I don't see the knife go in, but I feel it. Pain spreads through my body and I scream through gritted teeth, crushing Caleb's hand. Over the screaming, I hear my father ask me to relax my back. Tears run from the corners of my eyes and I do as he tells me. The pain starts again, and I feel the knife moving under my skin, and I am still screaming.

"Got it," he says. He drops something on the floor with a ding.

"Who is this young lady, Beatrice?" father asked me "Ava, she is my best friend. She saved me today,"

"You have my thanks," Ava just gives a nod, I can't imagine the betrayal she must feel, Eric so cruel yet to her so loving.

Caleb looks at my father and then at me, and then he laughs. I haven't heard him laugh in so long that the sound makes me cry.

"What's so funny?" I say, sniffling.

"I never thought I would see us together again," he says.

My father cleans the skin around my wound with something cold. "Stitching time," he says.

I nod. He threads the needle like he's done it a thousand times.

"One," he says, "two… three."

I clench my jaw and stay quiet this time. Of all the pain I have suffered today—the pain of getting shot and almost drowning and taking the bullet out again, the pain of finding and losing my mother and Tobias, this is the easiest to bear.

My father finishes stitching my wound, ties off the thread, and covers the stitches with a bandage. Caleb helps me sit up and separates the hems of his two shirts, pulling the long-sleeved one over his head and offering it to me.

My father helps me guide my right arm through the shirt sleeve, and I pull the rest over my head. It is baggy and smells fresh, smells like Caleb.

"So," my father says quietly. "Where is your mother?"

I look down. I don't want to deliver this news. I don't want to have this news to begin with. "She's gone," I say. "She saved me."

Caleb closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

My father looks momentarily stricken and then recovers himself, averting his glistening eyes and nodding.

"That is good," he says, sounding strained. "A good death."

"She did die a good death, it is the little acts of bravery that set us apart, she has made Dauntless proud," Ava chimed in her voice soft "My mother wasn't Dauntless," Caleb said looking at Ava.

"Yes she was until she was 16, then she choose Abnegation Caleb," he looked shocked but Ava didn't care regardless.

 **Ava's point of view…**

Something was off about her brother, the way he moved, the way he spoke, it was unnerving but I let it go…at least for now.

"We are only safe here for so long," It was Marcus "We need to get out of the city. Our best option is to go to the Amity compound in the hope that they'll take us in. Do you know anything about the Dauntless strategy, Beatrice? Will they stop fighting at night?"

"Ava, what do you think?" Tris said as I was looking out the window "Seeing as the Dauntless are sleepwalking as we sit here, this has nothing to do with Dauntless strategy. They won't stop until all of Abnegation is dead, that was the mission that is the end mission. They are being controlled, but the tracking device isn't long ranged Tris, so we can rule out heading to Erudite, we are heading home, Dauntless headquarters. And since the whole serum, mind control doesn't work on Tris and I, we are the ones that have to shut it down, we have to,"

"Mind control? So they don't know that they're killing people right now?" her father asks, I want to hurry my boyfriend is out there, my brother is out there.

"No."

"That's…awful." Marcus shakes his head. His sympathetic tone sounds manufactured to me, too fake and rehearsed.

"Waking up and realizing what you've done…"

The room goes quiet, probably as all the Abnegation imagine themselves in the place of the Dauntless soldiers.

"We have to go, Dauntless won't stand for this they will revolt, Erudite will lose its army. Yeah, Jeanine will try again another day, but it won't be today. I lost someone very important, who tried to kill me, told me he hated me because I am Divergent. I am not in the mood to sit around, while you make choices," I knew just what to say, it was a lie. I needed to protect Eric.

"Anyone who can fire a gun can come with us to Dauntless, anyone else head to Amity tell Johanna Ava Eaton sent you, also I will be coming, she will give you what you need," with that we took Marcus, Mr. Prior, and Caleb as the rest left for Amity; a safe haven.

We turn towards the tracks "Tris, time," I smile, looking at her "three twelve," she checks her watch, a small smile tugs at her mouth.

"Should be here any second," Tris says in a tense voice "Jump with the other arm," I shrug.

"Will it stop?" Caleb asked.

"No, you better run and jump," I grinned, he was off putting.

"It goes slowly through the city. We'll run next to the car for a few feet and then climb inside. Ava be nice he is my brother," her smile was back.

"Tris can you not be so nice to my brother?" I winked making kissy faces as her brother looked between us.

Jumping on trains seems easy to me now, natural. It won't be as easy for the rest of them, but we can't stop now. I look over my left shoulder and see the headlights burning gold against the gray buildings and roads. A smile spreads across my face as the lights grow larger and larger, and then the front of the train glides past me, and I start jogging. When I see an open car, I pick up my pace to keep stride with it and grab the handle on the left, swinging myself inside.

"Come on Mr. Prior," I hold my hand out feeling his in mine as I pull with all my weight, we both went back, but he was in. I stand leaning on the frame looking out with Tris "This wasn't smart Tris, bringing them. I'm sorry, they could get hurt," I looked over my shoulder, she did as well.

"I hope not," but now her voice was tense as is she hadn't thought that far ahead.

"Eric never said he hated you, why say that?"

"I don't trust Caleb, Tris. I won't be rude to him but I don't trust him," she looked hurt but she was not mad or angry. "Thank you,"

"If he thinks Eric, hates me, tried to kill me, it makes Eric safe," I whispered, she gave a nod.

If I were Jeanine, I would send the majority of Dauntless soldiers to the Dauntless entrance above the Pit, outside the glass building. It would be smarter to go in the back entrance, the one that requires jumping off a building.

"I assume you now regret choosing Dauntless," Marcus says his eyes on Tris, they flicker to me, it frustrates me.

She just shakes her head no "Not even after your faction's leaders decided to join in a plot to overthrow the government?"

Marcus spits. "Watch it Marcus, I am not Amity anymore. I will toss you seven stories down if you proceed to talk to Tris in such a manor. She has grown as a person, into more of a selfless person than she ever was in Abnegation." I shoved him, he stumbled back as Tris set her hand on my shoulder.

"There were some things I need to learn," she says "How to be brave?" her father says quietly.

"How to be selfless," Tris says. "Often they're the same thing." I agree with her, I think her father does from the small smile he tries to hide.

"I am sorry Father this is Ava she has been my friend since my first day in Dauntless, she is from Amity. Ava this is my father," I give a firm nod "Mr. Prior, we met before, the day of the Choosing Ceremony; you held the door open. I spoke to you giving thanks," his eyes looked me over seeing the Amity in the Dauntless.

"You have changed as well," he smiled.

The glass building above the Pit reflects sunlight into my eyes. I stand, holding the handle next to the door for balance. "Almost there. Tris get them ready," I call back.

"When I tell you to jump," I say, "you jump, as far as you can." I yell over the rushing wind seeing no Dauntless waiting.

"Jump?" Caleb asks.

"We're seven stories up, Tris." He looks to his sister.

"Onto a roof," She added. Seeing the stunned look on his face, I say, "That's why they call it a test of bravery Caleb,"

"Okay have the elders go first Tris," I point we make it so they have to jump the shortest distance the train tracks curve, and when they line up with the edge of the roof, I shout, "Jump!"

Mr. Prior bends his knees and jumps, I don't want to watch afraid to see if he doesn't make it, but I don't hear Tris scream, I look and see her father is sitting in gravel. "Ready," her and Caleb run jumping I am right behind them, my legs pumping, for moments it is pure lightlessness, seeing the ground below me, as if I am zip lining, but then I look my feet hitting the gravel sending it in every direction it was a jolt to my system, it hurt my spine.

"Well done Mr. Prior, come on the next part is fun," I smiled but he was shaking.

I hear their shuffling footsteps behind me and step onto the ledge. Wind rushes up the side of the building my hair blowing, I look to my right but Eric isn't there. Tris comes up next to me "Hey it will be okay Ava,"

I stare down at the hole in the ground, seven stories below me, and then close my eyes as the air blows over my face. "There is a net at the bottom," she alerted them.

"Hey you ruined it, we could have at least teased your brother," I laughed and jumped first making no noise the net taking my weight, I wasted no time, I moved rolling off the black net landing on my feet as Tris landed, she rolled, Marcus, then her father, her sissy brother was last, we helped him to the floor.

"Welcome to Dauntless," I smirked.

"So this is the Dauntless compound," says Marcus his eyes are cold and calculating.

"Yes," Tris says "And?"

"And I never thought I would get to see it," he replies, his hand skimming a wall. "No need to be so defensive, Beatrice."

"Her name is Tris, Marcus,"

"You remind me of my wife Evelyn, you even look like her and our son Tobias," he smiled "Well my brother is Tobias," I gave him a look as Tris whispered in my ear "He used to abused Four, Ava." My eye twitched, but I gave her a nod.

"That's means my child didn't die-"

"Enough of your babble," I said standing at the stone wall looking around the corner for any guards "Marcus give young Ava time," Mr. Prior said his hand on Marcus shoulder, I need about 300 hundred years.

We walk down the hall way that leads to the pit Tris and I clung against the walls which is striped with light every ten feet. When we walk into the first patch of light, I hear a gunshot and drop to the ground. Someone must have seen us.

I crawl into the next dark patch. The spark from the gun flashed across the room by the door that leads to the Pit. "Tris have them stay down,"

"Move, stay close to the floor," Tris said as we moved the lights protrude from the wall, so directly beneath each one is a nice patch of shadow. I am small enough to hide in it, if I turn to the side. One of us can creep along the edge of the room and surprise whatever guard is shooting at us before he gets the chance to fire a bullet into us, I should have known we would have to run into unfriendly fire.

One of the things I thank Dauntless for is the preparedness that eliminates my fear, I am not scared; I am without fear.

"Whoever's there," a voice shouts, "surrender your weapons and put your hands up!"

"Oh it's that sissy Peter, I would know that weak ass voice anywhere," I taunt "Come over here Peter, try and take it from me,"

I nod to Tris, he only knows I am here not her "Eric isn't here to save you Ava," another gunshot fires into silence "Well Eric and I are done, well I had to shot him when he tried to kill me. But I guess that happens when he rather kill Divergent's," I mused out loud.

I hear a groan "I got him Ava," I walk over, he is on his knees "Good job Tris, I told you men and their weakness," Tris takes his gun, can't have him armed that would be stupid.

"So Peter how are you awake?" I smile playing with my dagger a little thing I guess, rubbed off on me from Eric, a small pain flared thinking about him. He lifts his head as I nod at Tris, she clicks a bullet into the chamber, and she raised her brow at him daring him.

"The Dauntless leaders…they evaluated my records and removed me from the simulation," he says.

"Makes sense Tris, its Peter."

"Because they figured out that you already have murderous tendencies and wouldn't mind killing a few hundred people while conscious,"

"I'm not…murderous!"

"I never knew a Candor who was such a liar, come one Peter just come out with it you are." Tris said tapping his forehead with the gun.

"Where are the computers that control the simulation, Peter?" I said hardly looking at him as if I am bored.

"You won't shoot me."

"Who cares, I will," I snapped his eyes bore into mine "Do it Tris, give him a nice warning shot," she does, firing into his shoulder.

His screams fill the hallway. Blood spurts from the wound, and he screams again, pressing his forehead to the ground. If he just would have answered this wouldn't have been warranted but he has to be difficult, I walked around him, looking at him on the floor, I moved touching Tris' shoulder.

"Now that you realize your mistake. She will shoot you," I say, "I will give you another chance to tell us what we need to know before I take my gun and shoot you in your head, ending your miserable life and doing myself a favor,"

Another thing I can count on: Peter is not selfless. He'll do anything to save himself.

He turns his head and focuses a bright eye on me. His teeth close over his lower lip, and his breath shakes on the way out. And on the way in. And on the way out again. I guess he'd be cute if he wasn't such an ass.

"They're listening," he spits. "If you don't kill me, they will. The only way I'll tell you is if you get me out of here."

"What?" Tris looks at Peter then me.

"Take me… ahh…with you guys," he says, wincing.

"You want us to take you with us, Tris I leave this up to you. Eric made sure I had protection from his craziness, but he tried to kill you," she looked at me leaving this choice up to her, Peter, his gaze now on her, I held my gun now.

"Fine," Tris says, almost choking on the word. "Fine."

I hear footsteps behind me. Holding the gun steady, I look over my shoulder. Her father, brother and Marcus come up behind us "Hey, next time be careful, or I will shoot,"

I watch as Mr. Prior takes off his long-sleeved shirt. He wears a gray T-shirt beneath it. He crouches next to Peter and loops the fabric around his arm, tying it tightly. As he presses the fabric to the blood running down Peter's arm, he looks up at me and says, "Was it really necessary to shoot him?"

"Yes, since he was aiming to kill myself and your daughter. You're in Dauntless now Mr. Prior, I am sorry you don't value our ways but don't come here and mock them, he is a traitor, if he had his way Tris would have already been dead when he tried and failed to kill her weeks ago. Right now, we needed information, and a bullet to the shoulder was what it took," I said looking him in the eye he wasn't talking to me but I answered him anyways.

"Let's go," I say. "Get up, Peter." Tris adds.

"You want him to walk, Tris?" Caleb demands. "Are you insane?" Now he looks at me.

"Did she shoot him in the leg?" I say. "No. He walks. Where do we go, Peter?"

Caleb helps Peter to his feet. Ridiculous, help the boy who tried to kill your sister. Lucky he's alive right now.

"The glass building," he says, wincing. "Eighth floor."

He leads the way through the door. "Bleeding hearts, I am sorry Tris that was very rude," but she waved it off.

So we walk into Pit the roar of the river and the blue glow of the Pit, which is emptier now than I have ever seen it before. I scan the walls, searching for signs of life, but I see no movement and no figures standing in darkness. I keep my gun in hand and start toward the path that leads to the glass ceiling.

The emptiness makes me shiver. "I hate seeing it so lifeless," I say to Tris "It feels wrong," she adds, "Like a nightmare or a simulation" this time she shivers, as if she was remembering one.

"What makes you think you have the right to shoot someone?" her father says as he follows us up the path. We pass the tattoo place. Where is Tori now? And Christina? I hope Will is still okay.

"Now isn't the time for debates about ethics," I say.

"Now is the perfect time," he says, "because you will soon get the opportunity to shoot someone again, and if you don't realize—"

"Realize what?" Tris says without turning around. "That every second I waste means another Abnegation dead and another Dauntless made into a murderer? I've realized that. Now it's your turn."

"There is a right way to do things."

"What makes you so sure that you know what it is?" Every person should be free to make their own choices, how selfish of you to judge her, not very Abnegation of you Mr. Prior. Our friends, our family, are the ones being controlled to kill, to become what we are meant to protect every faction against," I said standing next to Tris with my gun on Peter.

"Please stop fighting," Caleb interrupts, his voice chiding. "We have more important things to do right now."

Before I ascend the metal stairs that will carry me above the glass ceiling, I wait in darkness and watch the light cast on the Pit walls by the sun. I watch until a shadow shifts over the sunlit wall and count until the next shadow appears. The guards make their rounds every minute and a half, stand for twenty seconds, and then move on.

"Let's move Tris," I looked back at the guards hearing her talk to her father "There are men with guns up there. When they see me, they will kill me, if they can," she is nothing above a faint whisper "Should I let them?"

He stares at her for a few seconds.

"Go," he says, "and God help you."

"Move now," I whispered, we didn't have time for this. We climbed the stairs carefully, stopping just before my head emerges. We have to wait, watching the shadows move, and when one of them stops, I step up, point my gun, and shoot; he falls.

I launch myself through the hole in the ceiling as Tris picks up the fallen gun taking out another Guard before he can shoot at us, gunfire goes off. Lucky the ceiling was built proof, I smile. Tris holds her gun up we have taken all but one the guard stands across from me. I stand point blank range the gun at him, my arms tense. I stare into the black pinprick that is his gun barrel.

Then something surprising happens. He jerks his chin to the side. Telling us to go.

He must be Divergent. We aren't as alone as we thought.

"All clear!" Tris understood, calling it out.

The guard ducks into the fear landscape room, and he's gone.

They come I don't like that she gives Caleb a gun, her eyes move to mine, but I just look away checking everything out. "Tris have two stay with Peter, he will just slow us down," I walked away, she sighed.

"Ava,"

"I think you and Marcus should stay here with him," Tris says in a firm tone jerking her head toward Peter. "He'll just slow us down. Make sure no one comes after us." I listen and make sure no guards are already coming.

This was most likely a suicide mission, we could only hope to shut down the program and wipe it, before Tris or I were killed in the process. It was best they stayed. It wasn't a difficult decision for me to do this, I knew it was easy for her too.

"I can't stay here while you go up there and risk your life," says Caleb.

"I need you to," Tris smiles hugging her brother.

Peter sinks to his knees. His face glistens with sweat.

I am tired, I haven't eaten, slept, nothing my body is stuck on red alert, I just want to save my brother, my friends, I haven't stopped moving since I turned away from Eric. Even now I am moving forwards and push myself toward the elevators on the right side of the room. Tris is next to me, another gun in hand.

Level eight.

"Together," Tris said looking at me "No better way," I took her hand, I squeezed just as hard as her. I knew her body was under the same pressure except she also had a gun wound.

"Thank you for protecting Caleb," her father says. "Beatrice, I—" we forgot her father came with us, we turn looking at him. The elevator reaches the eighth floor and the doors open. Two guards stand ready with guns in hand, their faces blank. My eyes widen, and I drop to my belly on the ground as the shots go off.

We watch their bodies fall but more Dauntless come "This has to stop, we have to hurry Tris,"

Guards run down the hallway on the left. Judging by the synchronicity of their footsteps, they are controlled by the simulation. We could run down the right hallway, but if the guards came from the left hallway, that's where the computers are. We have to drop to the ground between the guards but Tris' father jumps out of the elevator and sprints down the right hallway, drawing the Dauntless guards after him. I clap my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming at him, Tris does the same as tears form in her sad eyes. We know that hallway will end. His life will end. Another death is on our shoulders.

"Damn it," I spat.

Mr. Prior fires over his shoulder at the guards pursuing him, but he is not fast enough. One of them fires at his stomach, and he groans so loud I can almost feel it in my chest, it like seeing Mrs. Prior all over again. I hold Tris down, she struggles and I can feel her willing herself to remain as calm as possible.

He clutches his gut, his shoulders hitting the wall, and fires again. And again. The guards are under the simulation; they keep moving even when the bullets hit them, keep moving until their hearts stop, but they don't reach Tris father. Blood spills over his hand and the color drains from his face. Another shot and the last guard is down.

"Dad," I can hear her soft cries.

He slumps to the ground his mouth opens like he's about to say something, but then his chin drops to his chest and his body relaxes. "Go with Peace and Love Mr. Prior, be with Natalie," I was up dragging Tris with me. We run down the hall, turning right at the very end, there is only one door ahead, we slide it open.

The wall to the opposite side of us is made of large screens each a foot tall and a foot wide. There are dozens of them, each one showing a different part of the city. The fence. The Hub. The streets in the Abnegation sector, now crawling with Dauntless soldiers. The ground level of the building below us, where Caleb, Marcus, and Peter wait for us to return. Nothing of Amity can be seen, but Tris eyes scan everything, a lot of this was her life and now it's all being destroyed.

One of the screens has a line of code on it instead of an image. It breezes past faster than I can read. It is the simulation, the code already compiled, a complicated list of commands that anticipate and address a thousand different outcomes.

In front of the screen is a chair and a desk. Sitting in the chair is a Dauntless soldier.

My brother, Tobias.

"Tobias," Tris says, I sigh she shouldn't have spoken yet.

His head turns, and his dark eyes shift to me than to Tris. His eyebrows draw in. He stands. He looks confused. He raises his gun.

"Drop your weapons," he says.

"Tobias," I say, "you're in a simulation."

"Drop your weapon," he repeats. "Or I'll fire."

I set my gun down at my feet after Tris, she gave me the look. I had my dagger behind my back.

"Drop your weapon!" shouts Tobias.

"I did," we said at the same time.

"Tris, he is going to kill us. But you can get him to wake up I know it, I will work on the computers. But first let me get that gun from him it will buy you time,"

I run at him, grabbing his wrist. I feel his muscles shift as he pinches the trigger and duck my head just in time. The bullet hits the wall behind me. Gasping, I kick him in the ribs and twist his wrist to the side as hard as I can. He drops the gun. I punch him, as I flip over his back landing a hit to his kidneys, he spins kicking my side, but I block his next hit my fist making a sharp sound against his eye.

"Tris you're up," he was picking himself up from the floor as she moves towards the gun, I watch as he punches her in the jaw. But I have my own job now.

Stupid Erudite's, my brother made a wide arch as his body falls, then another as I run to the computer screen and get to work tapping it a few times with my fingers moving over the screen of moving letters. But Tobias is also controlling it, he has to wake up for it to fully shut down, I am typing in letters that make no sense to anyone.

I look up time is too short Caleb has a gun pointed to his head, Marcus is on his knees when I enter the last of the letters, feeling someone next to me I spin knocking them off their feet "Ava," but I just go back my fingers moving along the letters when a series of beeps rings out.

I press the screen once more, their arms drop to their sides.

And then the Dauntless move. Their heads turn from side to side, and they drop their guns, and their mouths move like they're shouting, and they shove each other, and some of them sink to their knees, holding their heads and rocking back and forth, back and forth.

Tobias crouches next to the computer and pulls the side of the case off.

"I have to get the data," he says, "or they'll just start the simulation again."

I watch the frenzy on the screen. It is the same frenzy that must be happening on the streets. I scan the screens, one by one, looking for one that shows the Abnegation sector of the city. There is only one —it's at the far end of the room, on the bottom. The Dauntless on that screen are firing at one another, shoving one another, screaming—chaos. Black-clothed men and women drop to the ground. People sprint in every direction.

"Got it," says Tobias, holding up the computer's hard drive. It is a piece of metal about the size of his palm.

"Here Ava,"

"Give it to Tris," I said I couldn't look at him his eye was black and blue, but I felt his arms around me. "We have to go," he said looking at another screen.

We walk out, but I pull Tris to me "Don't look, he died a brave man, a selfless man," I whispered when Tobias saw the grey clad man on the floor covered in blood, his eyes turned down. There is a shouting crowd of Dauntless soldiers dressed in black.

Tris is searching for Caleb's face, but it is nowhere, nowhere until we leave the glass building and step out into sunlight.

Caleb runs up to us when we finally walk through the doors, we watch her fall against him as Tobias and I had just done. He holds her tightly.

"Dad?" he says.

She shakes her blonde hair, it falls from the bun.

"Well," he says, almost choking on the word, "he would have wanted it that way."

Tobias holds me, as Caleb hugs Tris when I feel his body go rigid, tense Tris looks at us over her brother's shoulders. Marcus wraps his arms around us both "My children,"

Tobias doesn't move as I elbow him in the face Marcus falls back as Tris runs up "Hey," "Hey, get away from them,"

"Stay away," I hiss at Tobias' father, he wasn't mine.

"Beatrice, what are you doing?" asks Caleb.

"Tris," Tobias says.

Marcus gives us a scandalized look that seems false to me—his eyes are too wide and his mouth is too open.

"Not all those Erudite articles were full of lies," Tris and I say, narrowing my eyes at Marcus.

"What are you talking about?" Marcus says quietly. "I don't know what you've been told, Beatrice, but—"

"The only reason I haven't shot you yet is because he's the one who should get to do it," she says. "Stay away from him or I'll decide I no longer care."

"That is the reason we are best friends, and I am totally cool with you dating my brother," I laugh Tobias's hands slip around my arms and squeeze, he does the same to Tris.

"We have to go," Tobias says unsteadily. "The train should be here any second."

We walk over unyielding ground toward the train tracks. Tobias's jaw is clenched and he stares straight ahead. My heart is left with Eric.

"Sorry," Tris muttered to Tobias.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," he replies, taking her hand.

"If we take the train in the opposite direction, out of the city instead of in, we can get to Amity headquarters," I say. "That's where the others went."

"What about Candor?" Tris brother asks. "What do you think they'll do?"

I don't know how Candor will respond to the attack. They wouldn't side with the Erudite—they would never do something that underhanded. But they may not fight the Erudite either."

We stand next to the tracks for a few minutes before the train comes. Eventually Tobias picks Tris up, because that girl is dead on her feet. I stand seeing Dauntless still trying to find reason to what has happened, I know soon they will be scattered to traitors, and the rest finding solace in Candor.

I watch Peter and Marcus, I didn't think we are very safe with either of them, Peter will turn on us, it is a waiting game until he does. His eyes shift to mine, gunfire.

I turn Max and Eric with a few others they had a blue marking like a patch on the left sleeve of their jacket, I pulled Peter as I bullet nearly took him out, sadly I should have let it. The train cars passed as we ran Peter was having trouble, it was harder being shot at, and I helped him against my better judgment before swinging myself on.

But they didn't make the train as Caleb was face down on his belly breathing hard, I looked out seeing Max his hands on his knees looking down as Eric his eyes trained on me as Tris came up to me.

He smiled that wicked smile, blowing me a kiss, I smiled mouthing "I love you,"

"Always," was his answer before nothing.

I left Tris and Tobias in each other's arms, talking in low whispers, tears stinging my eyes. "That's your brother?" Caleb asks me "Yes that's my brother, just as you're Tris' brother," I smile.

"Just so you know Caleb, I am not that bad. I just became very protective of her over our time together. Dauntless preys on the weak, we came together and we are like sisters. I was ranked number one and her number two," he gave a low whistle.

"Hey enough, I am right here," I make a face covering my eyes "I had to see you kiss Eric," his words are now like venom as Tris slapped him. "Tobias,"

"I saw you shoot him,"

"I had no choice, he has been hunting Divergent's, and he wants us dead." I stood walking away from everyone "Who's Eric?"

"A cruel Dauntless leader who fell in love with Ava, but she is Divergent like me, he wants us dead, he hunts us. She was forced to shoot him, but she couldn't kill him," tears fell from my eyes even as I felt Tobias' arms around me.

"He let you go Ava," he whispered "Something about Caleb, I don't trust him with anything. Only what he has to know. Eric told me to run after I shot him, to get away,"

"I don't know why, but he will come after us,"

"I know,"

He would, the Dauntless traitors would be coming too, and we would be ready for them.

 **Okay the first book is done. Should I write a second give me a review with a yes or no!**


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